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The Prophecy
Angels move about in The Prophecy with force and anger. They are not the happy, winged faeries of children’s fables, nor are they the quiet, romantic observers of Wim Wender’s great Wings of Desire. They are bitter, confused, and angry, and they seem to know as much about God and His will as humans do. If Gregory Widen’s The Prophecy doesn’t get anything else right, its take on angels makes for compelling characters that lingered long in my mind after the movie came to a close. Widen’s interpretation of God’s servants certainly makes his film worth watching, even when every other aspect of the film seems to go wrong. The Prophecy concerns itself with “the next war in heaven,” in which Gabriel (Christopher Walken) decides to rebel against God and raise up an army to battle against God for dominion of heaven and earth. His reasoning is clear as he describes his former role under God’s command: “I kill newborns while their mamas watch. I turn cities into salt. … . And from now till kingdom come... the only thing [I] can count on ... is never understanding why.” Because he has lost his faith and connection from God, Gabriel has decided to give up on Him. Suggesting that angels of God suffer similar faith crisies for similar reasons as human beings do is an interesting twist, and it is a great idea for a movie. Unfortunately, Gabriel’s method, and the main premise of the movie, is silly and contrived: To combat God, Gabriel must find the darkest soul on earth to aid him, and he finds it in a deceased American general who served the Korean War and massacred thousands of innocent people. Gabriel’s opponent is another angel named Simon (Eric Stoltz), who seems comfortable with serving God only because he’s seen the consequences when other angels don’t. Simon has located this dark human soul, and he must hide it before Gabriel can find the good angel and snatch it from him. This storyline defies logic: If Gabriel is God’s appointed angel of war, why would he need the darkest soul on earth to aid him? Why not simply use his own power and influence to wreck havoc, especially since he also has the power to resurrect dead humans as zombies who are forced to follow him? The answer is simple: We are given this silly plot so that that these fascinating characters can bring in some human conflict. Pity, because I found the angels so engaging, I wish that the entire film would have been spent on them. Too many movies have humans who question God, but these angels are truly original and fresh creations, and writer/director Widen should have let the story be about them. But no, we meet priest-turned-homicide detective Thomas Daggett (Elias Korteas), who is the true hero of The Prophecy. Daggett states his spiritual crisis in his first line: “Some people lose their faith because Heaven shows them too little. But how many people lose their faith because Heaven showed them too much?” Indeed, Daggett quit the priesthood and turns his back on his faith because of terrible, violent visions of dying angels that plagued him. As a detective, he stumbles upon Gabriel’s plan after finding an ancient bible containing an extra chapter in the book of Revelation. The chapter explains the next war between God and angels in painstaking detail. Widen must assume that the audience is brain dead, as what is contained in that chapter more or less sums up the film’s main conflict so that there is little question as to what to expect with The Prophecy. Widen also falls victim to the curse of other supernatural thrillers like The Omen and its many sequels by creating biblical prophecies that are written in a way that they sound more like the “Holy Hand Grenade” sequence of Mony Python and the Holy Grail than actual biblical writing. In any case, before Gabriel can find the earth’s darkest human soul, Simons hides it in a little girl named Mary (Moriah Snyder). She and her school teacher Katherine (Virginia Madsen) quickly get caught up in the mix as Gabriel attempts to go after little Mary and Daggett and Katherine attempt to save her and the world. Along the way, Lucifer shows up (Lord of the Rings’ Viggo Mortensen, in a deliciously over-the-top performance) and offers his insight and assistance to the humans, claiming that Gabriel’s war will turn heaven into hell, and one hell is enough. Those scenes are good, but the whole story quickly turns into a ridiculous cat-and-mouse game between Daggett and Gabriel, with a bit of The Exorcist (little girl with an evil spirit overtaking her), Highlander (immortal beings stalking each other; not surprising, as Widen also penned the cult classic), and Wings of Desire (the immortals beings are angels dressed in black) thrown in. Gabriel, Simon, and Lucifer get lost in a pointlessly action-packed film, when their fascinating characters deserve far better. In fact, most of the film doesn’t work. While the principal cast does fine, many of the supporting actors lack conviction. Eric Stoltz as Simon is particularly disappointing; Stoltz attempts to give us a character that is noble and pure-in-heart, but he acts more like a doped-up child molester. The dialogue is also poorly written and loaded with clichés (“You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”), with the exception of some very effective one-liners. In addition, Widen directs the film with a heavy-hand, with little concern for pacing or timing. Characters do and say things with little motivation or explanation (i.e., I still can’t figure out why Madsen’s character wasn’t more jolted at the sight of one of her schoolchildren sitting on a trespasser’s knee). Plot holes also abound, and the “action-packed” ending is a real eye-roller. Yet despite all of the flaws in The Prophecy, I cannot deny the power of Widen’s view on angels. They are original and refreshing, and they sucked me into the movie even when I tried to complain about all the elements that just weren’t working. Daggett makes an observation that sums up Widen’s approach: “Did you ever notice how in the Bible, when ever God needed to punish someone, or make an example, or whenever God needed a killing, he sent an angel? Did you ever wonder what a creature like that must be like? A whole existence spent praising your God, but always with one wing dipped in blood. Would you ever really want to see an angel?” This is a provocative idea that I have never experienced before in any other interpretation of angels, and it kept me mesmerized throughout. Walken’s Gabriel is particularly effective in representing Widen’s ideas. Gabriel is not evil; he is simply driven to rage at God, and he’s taking it out on Him in the same way that he served Him: By being an angel of death and war. He and all the other angels feel as distant from God as humans do, as if God expects them to, like humans, have faith in Him without understanding His ways. Gabriel himself is given the film’s best lines, and they reflect his bitterness towards God and humans (the latter who he has cleverly dubbed “talking monkeys”). As long as the focus is on Gabriel and the angels, the film stirs our imagination. As Lucifer, Viggo Mortenson is also worthy of mention. Here is a Satan who is completely evil, but bright enough to understand that Gabriel’s war will bring an unbalance to the universe. Mortenson plays Lucifer as a reasonable man who has probably grown a bit too egotistical about his own stereotypes, and he thrives on the fear of all of the humans around him. “How I loved listening to your sweet prayers,” he taunts one character. “Then you would hop into bed, afraid that I was hiding under it. And I was!” For my money, this interpretation of the Prince of Darkness is the most creative since F.W. Muranu’s Faust. I will ultimately grant that there is more that doesn’t work about The Prophecy than what does. But I also cannot deny that what does work sparkles with energy and creativity, and I feel like the film is worth watching for its brilliant moments of inspiration, even if they are surrounded by a movie of complete absurdity. A.K.A.: God's Army Cast: Dimension Films presents a
NEO Motion Pictures release. Written and directed by Gregory Widen.
Rated R, for violence and language. Running time: 97 minutes.
Original United States release date: September 1, 1995. Questions? Comments? E-mail me: danel_the_tinman@hotmail.com |
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