Justin T
This is much more of a thriller in the vein of Se7en (1995) than a horror. This is also a good enough film. It is not too long and not too short but feels a little unoriginal. The acting is excellent as are the effects and so on but just misses the edge it was looking for because of its lack of originality. It is basically a middle of the road dark religious thriller.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
03/16/23
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Steve D
A little too warped up in its own mythology but entertaining as hell.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/18/23
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sean s
They made 5 of these in this series. I recently watched all of these, because one of the pay channels had them all in a row. Christopher Walken is in the first three and is always fun to watch. The first one is ok. The second, third and forth are better, and the fifth is pretty bad.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Audience Member
Kinda boring, half way I wish it end fast
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/03/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Thomas Dagget (Elias Koteas), a Catholic seminary student, loses his faith when he sees visions of a war between angels. Years later, Thomas is a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. Two angels fall to Earth: Simon (Eric Stoltz) briefly enters Thomas' home and warns him of coming events, while Uziel, a lieutenant of the Archangel Gabriel (Christopher Walken), is killed in an altercation with Simon. Investigating the disturbance, Thomas finds in Simon's apartment the obituary of recently deceased Korean War veteran Colonel Arnold Hawthorne, and a thesis about angels which Thomas himself wrote in seminary. Meanwhile, in Chimney Rock, Arizona, Simon finds Hawthorne awaiting burial and sucks his soul out of his body. The medical examiner informs Thomas that Uziel's body has no eyes, hermaphroditism, and the blood chemistry of an aborted fetus. His personal effects include an ancient Bible, with an expanded Book of Revelation that describes a second war in Heaven and prophecy that a "dark soul" will be found on Earth and used as a weapon...
Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus reads: "The Prophecy has its moments, but any fantasy thriller starring Christopher Walken as a murderous angel should be a good deal more engaging than this." Eric Hansen of Variety called it "daring and unique on the one hand, but hard to swallow on the other". Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that the film is bad enough to end the recent proliferation of religious thrillers. David Kronke of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Though Widen proves himself capable enough behind the camera, his script here is simply too loopy for him to render it in any credible fashion." Mick LaSalle of The San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "Yet for all its goofiness, director Widen has made a film with some genuinely creepy moments." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly rated it D− and described it as "an occult freakshow so inert it seems to have been pasted together out of stock footage". It has since gone on to become a cult film.
There´s something I do like with this fantasy thriller and the war in heaven between angels. Christopher Walken is solid as the Archangel Gabriel and so is Viggo Mortensen as Lucifer. But, to be honest the acting and direction is quite wobbly most of the time. "The Prophecy" is quite frankly a b-movie and nothing more.
Trivia: The film was originally filmed in 1993 and released two years later in 1995. This was the Weinstein's M.O., as they would film a movie before editing them, reediting them, and finally releasing them a year or two later.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/21/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Gregory Widen has had a great career, creating Highlander, Backdraft and this movie, which is a pretty great record. This was the first film he directed and man, it's stayed with me since I first saw it more than 25 years ago.
Thomas Dagget (Elias Koteas, who somehow can be in a kids movie like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Crashi) is a Catholic seminary student who loses his faith after watching a battle between angels and becomes an LAPD cop just in time for Simon (Eric Stoltz) to enter his home, tell him that the war between angels is here and get attacked by Uziel, an angel under the command of Gabriel (Christopher Walken).
Seriously, Walken owns every frame he's in and he actually has some great company in this one. That said, the cast is packed with heavy hitters like Virginia Madsen, Viggo Mortensen as Lucifer and Amanda Plummer.
None of them would deliver lines like Walken: "I'm an angel. I kill firstborns while their mamas watch. I turn cities into salt. I even, when I feel like it, rip the souls from little girls, and from now until kingdom come, the only thing you can count on in your existence is never understanding why."
Then again, Mortensen does get this one: "Little Tommy Daggett. How I loved listening to your sweet prayers every night. And then you'd jump in your bed, so afraid I was under there. And I was!"
Well, when the cops do an autopsy on Uziel, who has been killed by Simon, and learn that the body has no eyes, both sexual organs and the blood chemistry of an aborted fetus. Yeah, this is the kind of movie that drops those strange bits of knowledge on you just to see if you're paying attention.
I got the opportunity to speak to the film's producer, Joel Soisson, who said, "The idea was that these Hallmark angels in the Old Testament were not nice at all. They were brutal. And they just take you down. And I looked at it as they hated humans and then we have these predatory angels and nothing had been done like this before. Now, TV is starting to do things like Legion but in 1995, nobody was doing this.
The producers didn't get it. They really liked the story but said, "What if instead of angels, they were zombies?" And we answered, "Well, that's not the story."
When I look back at all the genre things I did, that's the one that I would remake or make another sequel. Gregory made something as engrossing as The Bible and it's just as full of paradoxes as The Bible. So whatever you believe, you don't have to be Christian, you can interpret so many things out of the Scriptures. And the angels are mysteries that we can't understand and it's fascinating to me.
I love that we find this conflict between the angels, with Walken's Gabriel leaving Heaven and trying to start a new Hell, but Satan comes to Earth and says, "Not on my watch." And Satan helps humanity! There's humanity and even some John le Carré espionage."
This is one of my favorite films because it's so unashamed to be as weird as it gets. If this movie was only the scene where Walken hung out with school children and yelled out, "Study your math, kids. Key to the universe!" it'd already be one that I adore.
It's years ahead of its time and still feels fresh.
As for the four sequels, well, stay tuned.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
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