Christopher Walken has been acting since
before I was born, and I'm almost an old man myself, so that
makes Mr. Walken like… ancient. Christopher Walken has
been amazing in some really good movies, and he's been awesome
in some really bad movies… but good movie or bad movie, in
some kind of way, Mr. Walken and his rather unique style
almost always brings some kind of awesome to whatever role he
chooses to take on. But what is Mr. Walken's greatest
performance? The 'Deer Hunter'? His one scene in
'True Romance'? 'Pulp Fiction'? Abel Ferrera's 'King of
New York'? 'I need more Cowbell'? So much to choose
from. There are those, though, who say it's this role
right here… the tragic archangel Gabriel from 'The
Prophecy'. And honestly, who are we to argue with these
lunatics? Nobody, that's who.
There's a war going on in Heaven. Another war, because
there was that war back in the day with Satan and all, but
this one here is a new war. Now to be completely honest
with you, I'm not to terribly sure about what this war is
about and what it means and what the end result that Gabriel
is searching for, but I do know that it's happening right now…
but later for all of that.
At the moment we need to familiarize ourselves with a few
people. One being tough NYPD detective Thomas Daggett
(Elias Koteas), who at one time was a priest before he lost
his faith. Or got too much faith. Something like that.
Right now he's investigating a strange murder involving an
individual with no eyes, an internal organ setup which
shouldn't exist on this planet, and in possession of a Bible
with an extra Revelations chapter in it, which our detective
has been able to decipher. This person was an angel,
killed by another angel, Simon (Eric Stoltz), who is
desperately trying to keep something very important out of the
possession of Gabriel, who once he gets this thing, can change
the tide of this war in Heaven that I don't understand.
Eventually Gabriel shows up on the scene, and
Gabriel, in a word, is a trip. And he really needs this
thing that Simon had, which he has cleverly hidden. This
thing Simon has hidden has led Gabriel and his reluctant ghoul
Jerry (Adam Goldberg) to a small desert town and the classroom
of Katherine the school teacher (Virginia Madsen) who makes
the acquaintance of Gabriel, and she can see that truly
something is wrong with this guy. Eventually Thomas the
cop and his investigation will also lead him to this town,
leading both the school teacher and the cop in the position of
protecting this particular little girl from Gabriel, and in
the meantime… maybe… protecting the human race? Again,
I'm not sure. But I do know they won't have to do this
alone because they have this most awesome wingman named Satan
(Viggo Mortenson) on their side. It's complicated.
I have an old friend who has always had a real problem with
this movie in that it almost forces you to root for The
Devil. This is a spoiler of course, but then this movie
is over twenty years old so you really should've seen it by
now, but in the theater showing when I first saw thing, and
Satan pulled out Gabriel's heart and starting eating it, the
audience was cheering. Like… Yay Satan! You
go! He has an issue with that, this guy did. I
told him then, just as I'm about to tell you now, that as a
movie 'The Prophecy' is completely ludicrous on just about
every level of ludicrousness, so stop taking it so seriously.
But look at this cast that director Gregory Widen was working
with, featuring practical living legends such as Viggo
Mortenson, and Virginia Madsen, not to mention Koteas, Stoltz,
Goldberg and Amanda Plummer. But of course, not
surprisingly, the movie belongs to Christopher Walken who
brings his unique style of awesome to the villainous character
of Gabriel, which makes it really difficult to root against
this guy. I mean Gabriel is charming and funny and
magnetic… even children like him. Yes, he talks about
killing these children after they've been born or ripping the
souls out of these children, but that's more of a function of
the job of being an archangel than Gabriel being a bad
person.
So the reason to watch 'The Prophecy', the reason that 'The
Prophecy' shouldn't be missed, is probably due to Christopher
Walken, and to a lesser extent Viggo Mortenson's inspired
interpretation of Lucifer, but the presence of all of this
high caliber talent in this movie doesn't stop 'The Prophecy'
from being a B-movie, just one with lots of talent in
it. It's actually just a step removed from being one of
those sci-fi channel originals. I admire parts of
Widen's script and his freewheeling version of theological
study, I definitely admire the mythology that he built into
this thing, but it would've been even nicer if I had a firmer
grip on what exactly is going on in this movie. Gabriel
needs this rotten soul. I get that. It will end
the war in Heaven. Got that too. Simon has to keep
that from happening. Cool. Satan doesn't want this
happen either. Solid. But… what happens when he
gets this soul? Why is this a bad thing again?
Shouldn't we all want this war in heaven to end? Maybe
God should step in and do something about this? What
does Satan and the status of Hell have to do with any of
this? I have no answers for you.
What we do know is Christopher Walken is terribly awesome in
this movie. And I know there are four more of these, and
that while Mr. Walken is only in the next two, I'm still going
to go ahead and watch them all, because that's how devastating
Christopher Walken was in this singular movie. His best
performance ever? I probably wouldn't say that, but
again, who am I to argue with those that do say this?
