The Prophecy (1995)

hyped garbage

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Wow, well, you really know a Widen movie when you see one. He's one of those writers that come up with something unique each time he brings a script to the screen...he's also one of those writers that you just have to assume is on powerful hallucinogenic drugs.Walken, of course, gets top billing, and he did do a very good job, who doesn't love it when he's a villein? He is always delightfully creepy and, in The Prophecy he balances that creepiness with a healthy does of humor. It makes him a lovable character, but then he does have a great sense of humor and one of the best deadpan deliveries in modern Hollywood.Still...Elias Koteas. I don't think he means to do it, but he always takes center stage in whatever he does and The Prophecy is no different. The man just brings his A-game to every movie, every bit part he has ever played. And like his turn in Fallen, the one thing that lingers in your memory when the movie is over, is the Koteas performance. As usual he wields raw acting power with ease.Stolz, as always, plays Eric Stoltz, but in this movie it works perfectly. He is the angel just following orders, and one that positively stinks of 90s era cool. You know from the first time you see him on screen that he was the perfect casting choice for Simon.What makes it better is Adam Goldberg, the man that is always cast in the same sort of roles. That is the slightly dorky Jew. He's really the same character he was in Saving Private Ryan, only far more pathetic. But he also provides the comic relief as a walking, decaying, reanimated corpse forced back to life to be Walken's unwilling and lippy servant. The movie needed elements of relief to keep it grounded enough to appeal to the none Biblically inclined and Goldberg, well, he does his job and makes you laugh.What you have here is a small film with a small budget and a great cast and it works. It works better than anyone can imagine, partially because the surreal quality of the script needed a small budget to keep it believable, and partially because the production quality forced everyone to relay on a very well written story and weigh it all on a cast that could turn it into something memorable.The result is a film that is endlessly watchable

The best part of the movie is the end. Unfortunately, it looks like there were 4 sequels. I got this movie in a pack of 8 films for 7.36 + tax. So, it cost a $1 and time. Here's the first problem. It is in super wide shot. On my TV 1/3 on top, and 1/3 on bottom is black. The center of the screen, 1/3 is the movie. This sucks.From then on, I noticed the audio is crap. Hard to understand the dialogue. The music, sound effects and dialogue had a serious mix problem. OK. Now, the story. Basic idea, some of god's angels are not satisfied and want to turn Heaven into another Hell. I guess that right. Now, the simple idea is fine. The details of the story and the execution sucks. We have a fallen priest that becomes a cop. This guy sucks as an actor. Plain and simple. Then we get Eric Stoltz as Simon as a good angel. He is a decent actor, but his dialogue and character sucks. We get the bad angel Christopher Walken as Gabriel. This guy is probably one of the best actors around. However, his character is one of the worst around. So, he's another fallen angel, via Brooklyn Mob circles. What the hell is up with that Brooklyn tough guy accent? Give me a freaking break. Then we have some school teacher and a little girl. All crappy actors. Satin shows up, because he doesn't want another Hell to compete with his. One more thing. The fx suck too. This thing sucked. It's a sad joke. Christopher Walken fans should not see this. Please don't. No one should see this.Complete failure. F. 1 star. Garbage.

Thomas(Koteas, determined) was going to be a priest, but he saw a horrifying vision(I won't give it away here), and became a homicide detective instead. But he might still cross paths with the divine. Simon(Stoltz, kind) hides something important from fellow angel Gabriel(Walken, as usual letting loose and stealing the show). And he wants it back... can our lead stop him, perhaps aided by a young girl(Snyder, brave - one of the numerous funny aspects, and I won't give away why) and a small-town teacher(Madsen, gutsy)?This is immensely creepy. That atmosphere engulfs it from start to finish. The darkly comic elements fit well within that, allowing us to laugh without breaking the gloom. The dialog is where a lot of the humor comes in. This has a warped ruleset that builds upon its religion, such as using someone recently deceased as a right hand man(abusing him all the while) by not allowing them to actually die, blasphemy being the worst thing(ever), etc. The effects vary some but tend to be pretty good. This is 90 minutes not counting the end credits, and 94 with them.There is a lot of disturbing, bloody, violent content in this. The DVD comes with trailers for this, Seduction, Children of Corn IV and Split Second. I recommend this to fans of thrillers. 7/10

Are you saying we have a dead angel on ice?Saw this without any knowledge, but saw the cast, Christopher Walken, Viggo Mortensen and Eric Stolz, which I all admire for their work, and was immediately quite amazed by the tone and excitement. This is dark, compelling, chilling and quite shocking. I would say that most things work. It's so damned we'll played by all, not only the above mentioned. Maybe this is both Walken and Stolz best roles ever! Walken is simply astonishing chilling in his role as arch angel. An absolute must-see!We meet a cop, which formerly tried to become a priest, but fail at the final blessing. After giving up religion, and becoming a detective, he has an encounter with might be an angel. And then what also seems to be an angel, according to ancient scripts, also is an angel, dead after a violent fight. Are we seeing a war of angels?Based on old biblical writings this is way more exciting than any of Dan Brown's stuff. Don't let this mislead you into thinking this is something rubbish. It's scary and worst of all quite believable. Kept in a realistic everyday style, it still gives chill after chill in meeting with the angels, among them the great arch angel Gabriel.I also love the make up effects made for this film. Nasty, well done stuff. Filming is great. Just like some of the best films I saw back in the 70'ies, 80'ies and 90'ies. The feel I get the same good movie feeling I had a long time ago, and reminds me of the classics like "The Exorcist", "Rosemary's baby", "Name of the rose", which all are themed similarly or the dark filming work of "Deliverance", "Whatever happened to Baby-Jane", "Duel" and "The Marathon man". Yeah, it's really that good, and that well done, but even darker! If you liked the chills in those, you'll like this. It's good story telling, which makes this a hidden classic.Maybe the end is too abrupt and positive. The weakest part is the final minutes, but then again this is a story that needs such an ending.The music score is out of this world. Not only this. The dialog is exquisite and the quotes you can get from this are epic. Do yourself a favor, if you haven't seen this! Get hold of it! I just discovered a hidden gem!