Directed by Gregory Widen
Starring Christopher Walken, Elias Koteas, Virginia Madsen, Eric Stoltz and Viggo Mortensen
Alright, kids, it's time to take another AVGN-style trip back to the past. The Prophecy was a movie that got a fair amount of hype back in 1995. It was a Miramax movie, and the Weinstein bribe-the-press factor was in full force for this one. The advance raves were pretty...uh, ravey, with critcs by and large treating this WAY better than your average fantasy-horror film. And it had Christopher Walken in one of his legendary Saturday Night Live hosting gigs to promote it. If I remember correctly, it was even a season opener. So this movie's name was definitely out there.
To be sure, it's a very well put-together little flick with an enormously appealing main hook: former seminary student who loses his faith finds himself in the middle of a modern-day war between the angels in heaven, with the fate of humanity at stake. It's also got an amazing cast of actors (seriously, look at that list above - it's got Christopher Walken, Virginia Madsen, Casey Jones, Brundlefly II and Viggo Mortensen when he's not being a douchebag) all of which do anything but sleepwalk and give this material every ounce of emotion that they could muster. Ordinarily, I'd be all over this sort of thing. Thus, it's kind of a mystery why this one fell a little flat with me. Or maybe I just need to stop watching movies on Friday morning after I've been through an entire work week on something like 12 combined hours of sleep.
Actually, I CAN pin the blame on one thing. This movie takes a LONG time to get going. Something like 45 minutes into the movie, it still felt like it was setting everything up. Secondly, it's got a SLOW pace. And when I say slow, I mean SLOOOOWWWWW. That can be great when you're dealing with a movie that has sporadic bits that are really scary. While there are parts of The Prophecy that are definitely tense, it's not going to make you piss yourself in terror. So two strikes there.
While Walken's name is the first on the marquee, it's Elias Koteas who is your star here. The opening gives us a ceremony inducting two young men into the Priesthood. Thomas Dagget, Koteas' character, can't bring himself to go through with it after seeing horrific visions on the altar. Flash forward several years, where Dagget is now a detective with the LAPD who finds himself investigating a series of bizarre, mutilated, supernatural f**ked up dead bodies, many of whom are affected in some way by angels.
Angels, you ask? Why yes. Angels. The first of these we meet is Simon, with Eric Stoltz in full Pulp Fiction hippie mode. We start to get the basis for the conflict between the angels. It seems that one faction, led by the ever-so-gaunt and ever-so-influential Gabriel (Walken), were none too happy about God's (capitalized because it's God, bitches) decision to give human beings souls, leading to some very unsightly heavenly congestion. Simon, however, continues to serve obediently. The main crux of the storyline involves finding the dead body of a sadistic Korean War veteran, with Simon hiding this guy's soul in the body of a little girl while Gabriel needs to possess the soul himself to increase his power on the Earth realm.
Speaking of Gabriel, yup, it's Christopher Walken in full-on villain mode. As always, he's awesome, with his start-stop vocal delivery and impeccable physical mannerisms owning this role every time he's onscreen - which, actually, isn't very much. I'd say he's far less featured than Koteas, Stoltz and Virginia Madsen's characters, with the freakin' little girl who plays "hide the soul" also getting a fair amount of camera time. This would be another strike against the movie, as it seems like The Prophecy suffers a little from "too much going on" syndrome. Proof? I haven't even mentioned Madsen's character yet, a teacher who contributes very little to the plot other than befriending the girl who is now in hiding from Gabriel. Or Adam Goldberg as a suicidal loser who Walken recruits to help him out in his mission.
Now, the movie DOES pick up when Mortensen shows up as a surprisingly helpful Satan, with Koteas also suddenly becoming a lot more important to the goings-on. I actually wish that the movie had focused a bit MORE on Thomas Dagget; it's a very sympathetic and fascinating character, and I'm always a big sucker for the "recovering faith" plot in movies like this. I don't know. As big of a fan as I am of Virginia Madsen, I'd say that her screen time could have easily gone to Koteas here and nobody would have really noticed. But I'm getting off track. The third act, with the s**t hitting the fan and Gabriel's army causing all sorts of chaos. But boy, is it a long build to get there.
This is definitely a strange movie, one that I can actually commend Gregory Widen for his ability to take on such a huge subject. It's not the most coherent story in the world; at times, it's pretty damn confusing and we're left to kind of guess what's going on. When it's on, it's on, and that would be anytime Walken is onscreen pontificating on the nature of human beings (or "THE MONKEYS" as he refers to them) or the sporadic fights between the angels that lead to severely mutilated bodies. Unfortunately, though...that build. That meandering, meandering build. If you're sleepy, watch the first half of this movie, because it's guaranteed Zquil.
** 1/2 out of ****. I'd recommend it for a watch if you're into more religious-themed horror like I am, or if you're a big fan of Christopher Walken. But this one leaves a LOT of its amazing potential on the table, and that's kind of depressing.
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