The Prophecy | | Cast : | Christopher Walken, Elias Koteas | | Director : | Gregory Widen | | Studio : | Dimension Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | September 01, 1995 | | DVD Released Date : | September 07, 2004 | | Language : | English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | June 08, 2005 | | Summary | A New War In Heaven | Content
 | This movie's premise is based on a supposed 23rd chapter of Revelation being discovered that chronicles a new war beginning in Heaven, but this time war is not brought on by wanting God's power but jealousy over human's being given God's unwavering love and grace.
The angel leading the new war in Heaven is Gabriel, played amazingly by Christopher Walken. When the movie begins there has been a stalemate in the war between the angels loyal to God and those wanting humans to be barred access to Heaven. Gabriel's angels determine that the key to winning this war and closing Heaven to the humans forever is by finding the most evil soul on Earth, a soul that belonged to a general that has just passed away and now the hunt is on to see which side will reach the soul first.
Standing in Gabriel's way is the angel Simon, an angel still loyal to God, who has found the soul and is hiding it inside a little indian girl. Assisting Simon is a former would-be priest turned athiest cop, who begins to understand that if Gabriel is not stopped and the gates of Heaven do not reopen to the humans, there will be Hell on Earth.
This movie is well done and deals with some very fun ideas about angels and humans. Granted it's not the most theologically sound movie, in fact it's far from it; however, inaccurate the movie may be it isn't blasphemous either in my opinion. Not a movie to form your opinions of Christianity upon, but still a fun sci-fi, religious thriller that raises some good points and shows a great journey for the athiest cop to come back to his faith.
Also, look for a brief appearance by Satan (played by a pre-Lord of the Rings, Viggo Mortensen) that is very well done, in which he shows Gabriel the error of his ways, by instructing him that this new war is steeped in jealousy, and jealousy is evil which makes Gabriel no better than Satan. Satan's reason for interfering in the war to help humans because though he doesn't care one ounce about us, he doesn't like that due to Heaven being blocked it could create another Hell and that's one to many in his mind, so he acts more out of self-preservation than anything else.
The Prophecy is rated R, for violence and some language. A great spiritual thriller that has spawned a great series of films. |
| Rating | | | Date | February 26, 2005 | | Summary | good religious horror story | Content
| there was some mention of this movie in the Constantine reviews so i gave it a shot. it was pretty good. Christopher Walken is one strange strange man which makes him an awesome pick for some of the roles he does including his portrayal of Gabriel. the story was kind of iffy in my opinion, but his acting made this movie that much better.
there were a few similarities to the Constantine story, but with much less special effects. there was a few interesting things going on, but the storyline isn't necessarily coherent. a priest turns into a cop after witnessing some type of disturbed vision when he was taking his vow into preisthood and now he is tracking down a soul of this supposedly most evil man on earth. ok. overall it is a good movie to rent if you really want something to not take seriously. if you are a fan of Walken's work, watch this. |
| Rating | | | Date | February 12, 2005 | | Summary | Sibling Rivalry on a Cosmic Scale | Content
| This film is based on the biblical account concerning the fall of rebellious angels, led by Lucifer, who refused to bow, on God's command, to his new creation, the human being. Lucifer became tremendously jealous over God's love for these seemingly inferior beings. (Referred to humorously as monkeys by Gabriel in the film) After refusing to pay homage, Lucifer began to stir-up trouble in heaven, eventually leading to his banishment from the holy realm, enforced by non other than the Archangel Michael, taking thirteen legions of angels with him into exile. The Prophecy takes this biblical account further, referring to the last and alleged missing chapter of the Book of Revelations, by proposing that heaven was split between those angels loyal to God, and those intent on destroying creation all together. A terrible and bloody war was waged between the opposing angel forces in heaven, and the final battle, as the film speculates, will be waged, and finalized, on earth.
Christopher Walken plays the Archangel Gabriel. The character is hell-bent on decimating human kind completely, and his strategy is to capture the darkest soul on earth, who will then lead human kind to its ultimate destruction. Walken gives a compelling and charming performance as the disgruntled angel, only wanting "everything as it was before", that is, before human souls took up so much of God's attention and love in heaven. As Walken can do so well, he portrays a particularly nasty individual, yet at the same time, personifies the entire story's central theme, and that is, the results of "sibling rivalry" on a cosmic scale.
The story of the Fallen Angels, immortalized in Milton's classic epic poem, "Paradise Lost", is essentially a moral tale of sibling rivalry, children fighting over the attentions of a loving parent. "Father has always loved you more than I." And because of the child's behaviour and disobedience, refusing to get along with their siblings, are kicked out of the house, banished from the realm, and consequently make trouble for everybody else.
Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) puts in a convincing performance as the dark and brooding Lucifer; and Eric Stolze (Pulp Fiction) as the good angel, Simon, although a small appearance in the film, also gave a noteworthy performance.
The Prophecy is the first film of a trilogy - Prophecy II and III are also quite good, particularly II, as we gain greater insight into the reasons behind the warring angels.
For those interested in religious/occult thrillers, The Prophecy should not disappoint.
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| Rating | | | Date | February 01, 2005 | | Summary | Low budget misfire | Content
| Christopher Walken plays himself once again. Viggo Mortensen has a powerful brief appearance. Virginia Madsen has nothing much to do. Elias Koteas proves he's a good actor. And that's all.
This 1995 movie is a low budget production with an ample premise, but this premise will dissapoint as soon as he movie begins to roll, so weak and full of holes it proves to be. |
| Rating | | | Date | December 18, 2004 | | Summary | A Christopher Walken classic ! ! ! | Content
| This movie had a very twisted plot however did fall on alot of correct Theological view points which gave it alot of credit!
Basically after the War in Heaven with lucifer, the angels rebeled and started a second war in Heaven because they were jelouse that God placed man/humans in His grace and not the angels, however this section was ommited in Revelations being Chapter 23.
A cop who had a vision while going into the priesthood years ago which scared him to leave to become a cop instead goes to investigate an unusual murder, which the victim has an old Bible with Him. However as no one else notices, This Bible has Rev Chapter 23 included.
Christopher Walken plays the part of Gabriel, leader of the angelic rebelion and fits the part so perfectly I doubt anyone could fill those shoes but Him 'Christopher Walken'...
Even just watching the movie for Christopher Walkens smart a** comments about people and how He places Himself above people is halarious but still goes along perfectly with the movie, plus I dont think anyone has a dark humor the way Walken can portray!
Excellent movie and although this review is for 'The Prophecy' I do also recommend 'The Prophecy 2' and especally 'The Prophecy 3' which all go hand in hand although you could skip part 2, jump to part 3 and not miss much. And yes, Christopher Walken plays Gabriel in part 2 and 3 as well!
Enjoy! |
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