Thomas Daggett (Elias Koteas) loses his faith after receiving a vision. He quits the seminary and becomes an LAPD detective. An angel named Simon (Eric Stoltz) appears in Thomas' home and later in front of Mary, a native American child in Katherine (Virginia Madsen)'s class. Archangel Gabriel (Christopher Walken) recruits distressed human Jerry (Adam Goldberg) in his quest to win the war in heaven and destroy the talking monkeys. With the situation coming to a head, Mary and Thomas are offered help from Lucifer (Viggo Mortensen).
The first half is a little muddled. Expositions aren't necessarily the best parts of most movies but they are usually the necessary parts. This movie needs an exposition dump when Simon first meets Thomas. It can't be all flash visions and cute non-reveals. Simon needs to tell Thomas about the situation and Thomas needs to not believe. There is a weird kiss with a child. Some of it needs to be explained or else, it's too awkward and confusing. Once Gabriel dug up the military man, the plot gets a lot clearer and the movie works a lot better. Still, scenes keep cutting short. They end before their endings. Some go off screen. This could actually work as a very long pilot episode of a show. It does have great movie acting from Walken and Koteas. Filmmaker Gregory Widen is more of a writer than a director. That makes a lot of sense. The directing in this is problematic but there is good material in this muddle.
The first half is a little muddled. Expositions aren't necessarily the best parts of most movies but they are usually the necessary parts. This movie needs an exposition dump when Simon first meets Thomas. It can't be all flash visions and cute non-reveals. Simon needs to tell Thomas about the situation and Thomas needs to not believe. There is a weird kiss with a child. Some of it needs to be explained or else, it's too awkward and confusing. Once Gabriel dug up the military man, the plot gets a lot clearer and the movie works a lot better. Still, scenes keep cutting short. They end before their endings. Some go off screen. This could actually work as a very long pilot episode of a show. It does have great movie acting from Walken and Koteas. Filmmaker Gregory Widen is more of a writer than a director. That makes a lot of sense. The directing in this is problematic but there is good material in this muddle.