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(More customer reviews)Fallen is underrated, as I felt it wasn't nowhere near as bad as some critics said it to be. It's a very interesting mix of The Exorcist and The Silence of the Lambs and Seven. The result is one of the best thrillers of the decade. It's not quite up there with Lambs or Seven but it's as good as Arlington Road and is significantly superior to The Bone Collector and Kiss the Girls.
The plot is about Detective John Hobbes (Denzel Washington), who has just captured serial killer Edgar Reese (Elias Koteas). Before Reese is executed, he speaks to Hobbes in a strange language and tells him a riddle, asking him why there's a space between Lyons and Spakowsky. Hobbes doesn't think much of this and watches silently as Reese is executed in the gas chamber.
The next day, another murder occurs, and Hobbes and his partner Jonesy (John Goodman) check it out. To his shock, Hobbes finds the same riddle Reese told him scrawled on the wall of the victim's apartment. Unraveling the clue and with the help of an intelligent woman named Gretta Milano (Embeth Davidtz), he discovers that a demon called Azazel had inhibited the body of Reese and can switch from one human host another with a simple touch.
The premise itself is chilling, yet I was a bit hesitant to watch this film. The critics' reviews were mixed but all of them seemed to agree that the film was a bit slow moving. The truth is, Fallen is a bit slow for the first forty or so minutes, but the last eighty minutes are full of intriguing ideas that are well explored along with plenty of extremely suspenseful scenes, especially the ending, which, by the way, has a great twist.
Regarding the suspenseful moments of the film, they can truly be described as edge of your seat. One of the most harrowing sequences in this film is an original chase scene that involves the domino effect, where the demon chases after Davidtz by passing from one human host to another. There's also the chilling scenes where Washington has to try and keep up with who Azazel has just possessed.
Fallen's greatest aspect, despite all those truly thrilling and very suspenseful scenes, is its ending. It first involves a very clever plan being unfolded by one of the characters and ends with a great and unpredictable plot twist. This is truly one of the most unpredictable endings I have seen. It might not have as much of the shock power as the edgy (and twisty) climaxes of Seven and Arlington Road (or for that matter, The Sixth Sense), but it's just as surprising if not more.
The performances in this film are solid. Denzel Washington is fine as the detective who is much more clever than Azazel thinks. John Goodman is his usual solid self as Hobbes' partner, and he excels in this role, proving he has a lot of range ever since his show Roseanne was cancelled. Embeth Davidtz's performance is okay though her character is slightly underwritten. The real scene stealer, though, is Elias Koteas. Though he's in the film for five minutes his Edgar Reese character is scary and actually a bit fun to watch. Most of the characters are well-developed and this helps us care for Hobbes and his family.
The script by Nicholas Kazan is well-written and the twist in the end makes it better to appreciate and Gregory Hoblit's use of a dark, edgy atmosphere and mood is undeniably effective.
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Fallen (Snap Case) (1998)THE THRILLS KEEP COMING. THE PLOT KEEPS TWISTING. THE SUSPENSEKEEPS GROWING. HOMICIDE DETECTIVE JOHN HOBBES HUNTS A SATANIC FORCE THAT SHIFTS FROM ONE HUMAN HOST TO ANOTHER IN THIS TAUT,TERRIFIC SUPERNATURAL THRILLER.
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