The Prophecy -

There are a lot of clever and unique touches in this imaginative film about a second war in heaven. However, clever and unique touches do not a movie make. Christopher Walken does his typical job as Gabriel, leader of the rebel force of angels, upset that man has taken God’s favor away from them. He is hoping to capture and use the most evil human soul to turn the tide of the war, stalemated for 2000 years. However, another angel, Simon, played by Eric Stolz, steals the soul and hides it away…thus initiating a search that involves teacher Virginia Madsen and nearly-priest-turned-cop Elias Koteas. The idiosyncracies of the angels, and the mannerisms of Gabriel in particular, are worth watching…if only they were surrounded by a more substantial film. Koteas is bland and unconvincing as the cop struggling with his faith; Madsen is pretty much in a stock role as the concerned teacher. Certain scenes, and especially the finale, make little sense, and seem as if they were tacked on without much thought (with the relative ease at which several angels die, it seems doubtful that the war would have gone on for nearly 2 millenia).