The Prophecy (1995)

Christopher Walken is supremely creepy in The Prophecy as an archangel running amok -- you've got to respect (though grudgingly so) a character whose powers include causing spontaneous human combustion. Walken chews through and owns every scene in this movie but Viggo Mortenson steals it back towards the end as a chillingly threatening Lucifer. Alex Koteas is a priest-turned-detective who lost his faith for a season but in the end can say "I have my soul and my faith." His and all the other performances are good. The special effects are acceptable for mid-nineties mainstream horror movies; this was not Jurassic Park, you know. The plot and directing are a bit uneven -- even supporting the charge of occasional cheesiness -- but this is a movie with heart: Its sheer earnestness is enough to carry the day esp. to cover over any rough patches. Pay attention to how some scenes are framed and give the baddies all the credit they are due -- it's only a movie after all. I like The Prophecy better than The Fallen because it tries harder though overall The Fallen is a better movie (just more psychological). The Prophecy caused me to bump the puckish Dogma up to 4.5 stars -- though The Devil's Advocate at 5 stars tops this topic for me. So because 3.5 stars wouldn't do justice to The Prophecy -- 4 stars.