Homicide detective John Hobbes is a clean cop with a good reputation; a reputation built on many closed cases including his most recent conviction and death sentence for serial killer Edgar Reese. Moments before his death Reese starts speaking a strange language and threatens Hobbes with revenge. Gassed to death and buried, Reese is just another reason for Hobbes to be smug on television but soon murders start happening with such a level of detail that it can only be that Reese had a partner who has carried on in his vein. Investigating this only produces more impossible findings and Hobbes soon runs out of answers; however it soon transpires that things beyond the human world are at play and this is much more than murder.
I think for me, part of the joy of Fallen was that I never saw it coming. It didn't make so much as a ripple at the UK box office and it was only really when it got to TV for the first time that it appeared on my radar. Even then I knew nothing about it and it took me by surprise by just how effective a thriller it was. Watching it for the second and third time produced the same level of enjoyment and the only thing tempering it now is that the weaknesses show through. Accepting the plot is key to the success of the film and it manages to make this high concept easy to get into several different ways. Sadly at least one of these ways is by allowing the plot to make skips and jumps at times, taking easy roads and perhaps lacking logic here and there (as in logic within the universe it has written for itself). This bothered me a little bit but, to be honest, the film is engaging to the point where you tend not to notice. The thriller plot moves forward well, with solid pace and twists and turns the majority of the way.
The direction is pretty good, although the "demon's eye" view of the action got a little stale towards the end and it was perhaps an easy device to use. Washington is a big reason this film works; his performance is strong even though his character is secondary. He is a good leading man and even managed to emotionally engage me despite the material not having this as its priority. With the nature of the "baddie" there is nobody playing directly opposite him so the rest of the cast can be called "support". However this is no bad thing when you have good performances from Goodman, Sutherland, Gandolfini, Casseus, Koteas and others to rely on.
Overall this is an enjoyable supernatural thriller that works despite the high concept plot. The twists and turns are enjoyable and Washington makes an excellent leading man even though the material doesn't give him a great deal to deal with below the surface.
I think for me, part of the joy of Fallen was that I never saw it coming. It didn't make so much as a ripple at the UK box office and it was only really when it got to TV for the first time that it appeared on my radar. Even then I knew nothing about it and it took me by surprise by just how effective a thriller it was. Watching it for the second and third time produced the same level of enjoyment and the only thing tempering it now is that the weaknesses show through. Accepting the plot is key to the success of the film and it manages to make this high concept easy to get into several different ways. Sadly at least one of these ways is by allowing the plot to make skips and jumps at times, taking easy roads and perhaps lacking logic here and there (as in logic within the universe it has written for itself). This bothered me a little bit but, to be honest, the film is engaging to the point where you tend not to notice. The thriller plot moves forward well, with solid pace and twists and turns the majority of the way.
The direction is pretty good, although the "demon's eye" view of the action got a little stale towards the end and it was perhaps an easy device to use. Washington is a big reason this film works; his performance is strong even though his character is secondary. He is a good leading man and even managed to emotionally engage me despite the material not having this as its priority. With the nature of the "baddie" there is nobody playing directly opposite him so the rest of the cast can be called "support". However this is no bad thing when you have good performances from Goodman, Sutherland, Gandolfini, Casseus, Koteas and others to rely on.
Overall this is an enjoyable supernatural thriller that works despite the high concept plot. The twists and turns are enjoyable and Washington makes an excellent leading man even though the material doesn't give him a great deal to deal with below the surface.