4/10
Dull cop thriller.
26 June 2007
Warning: Spoilers
The Lost Angel starts as police inspector's Billie Palmer (Allison Eastwood) & her partner Julian (screenwriter & producer Nicholas Celozzi) shoot Brian Walls (Darcy Laurie), a suspect in two brutal homicides. All seems well with Billie & Julian feeling very pleased with themselves, however all is not well as the killer strikes again & since Brian was in jail he couldn't possibly have done it. The killings seem to have some religious connotation as the victims are crucified & strange ancient writings decorate the walls of each crime scene, the FBI send in Father Brian (Judd Nelson) to help the investigation. The trial leads to St. Rita's church which all the victims attended or had links too, they soon realise they are up against a killer who is performing the ancient rite of sacrificing someone everyday for twenty days & they face a race against time before more innocent lives are lost...

This American Canadian co-production was co-written, produced & directed by Dimitri Logothetis & this is a pretty routine, sub standard & throughly dull cop thriller. The script by star Celozzi & director Logthetis which takes itself very seriously is as bland & workman like as they come, basically the film revolves around a series of murders with a religious slant & the cops who are trying to solve them. Seriously if I was giving points out for originality then The Lost Angel would get minus 10, not much focus is given to the murders or the religious significance other than it's some sort of rite, the character's are terrible especially the lead cop Billie Palmer who I really wanted to die & as a result it was impossible for me to get into the story or care about what was happening. I was pretty much on autopilot, sure I was watching it but it wasn't making any impression on me at all. Then there's the fact The Lost Angel tries to be many things, it wants to be a scary horror, a tense thriller, a teenage coming of age story, a heartfelt tale of cops finding redemption for earlier problems, a romance & it also tries to be clever with a lame twist ending which doesn't work.

Director Logthetis turns in an OK looking film but it feels more like a cheap made-for-TV detective show with slightly more swearing & a bit more blood. I have to mention the opening credits here which are of a CGI computer animated drain, the camera speeds along the pipes with the cast & crews names dotted around the place before the camera emerges from a plug hole & into the film proper, it's a nice idea I suppose but the animation looks terrible & it's just so at odds with the rest of the film which is as bland & forgettable as they come it's frankly bizarre. Forget about any decent gore, there are a couple of bodies with some blood on them & a few gunshot wounds but nothing to get excited about.

Technically the film is OK even if it doesn't have any sort of style or visual flair, it has average production values & is competent but nothing more. Allison Eastwood if you didn't know happens to be the daughter of Clint so it's surprising to see her in junk like this, couldn't her dad fix her up with a good role in a big budget Hollywood flick? John Rhys-Davies plays a deaf priest & C. Thomas Howell is here somewhere.

The Lost Angel is one of those films which tries to be several things but ends up as nothing in particular, a below average cop thriller that really isn't worth wasting your time on.
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