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Fallen [1998]


RRP: £13.99
Our Price: £3.51 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Although it received mixed reactions from critics and audiences alike when released in 1998, this supernatural thriller benefits from a sustained atmosphere of anticipation and dread, and its combination of detective mystery and demonic mischief is handled with ample style and intelligence. Under the direction of Gregory Hoblit (who fared better with Primal Fear), Denzel Washington plays detective John Hobbes, who witnesses the gas-chamber execution of a serial killer (Elias Koteas). But when another series of murders begins, Hobbes suspects that the killer's evil spirit has survived and is possessing the bodies of others to do its evil bidding. Even Hobbes's trusted partner (John Goodman) thinks the detective is losing his grip on reality, but the dire warnings of a noted linguist (Embeth Davidtz) confirm Hobbes's far-out theory, and his case intensifies toward a fateful showdown.

Although its idea is better than its execution, and the story's film noir ambitions are never fully accomplished, this slickly directed thriller has some genuinely effective moments in which evil forces are entwined into the fabric of everyday reality. Among the highlights is a memorable scene in which Detective Hobbes must track the killer as the evil spirit is transferred between many people via physical contact. Even if the film is ultimately less than the sum of its parts, it's an intriguing hybrid that resides in the same cinematic neighbourhood as Seven and The Silence of the Lambs with a cast that also includes Donald Sutherland and James Gandolfini. Included on the DVD is a full-length audio commentary by director Hoblit, screenwriter Nicholas Kazan and producer Charles Roven. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com


Demon quality
Review date: 2008-05-23 Rating: 8 out of 10

Denzil Washington stars in this high class chiller in which he plays a cop trying to deal with an opponent who could literally be anybody at any time. A good cast including John Goodman and Donald Sutherland provide excellent support. Combine this with a surprisingly clever script and decent direction and you'll find a film that thrills and surprises in equal measures. No more so than the ending which has a lovely twist which I certainly didn't see coming.

Fortunately for us there is no basis in reality for this story. If there was you'd look at people a little bit differently in future. Its also worth mentioning that I shall never hear a certain Rolling Stones song in the same way again after watching this film.

This is a much better film than its fairly obscure status would tend to indicate.


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Reviews


good film but fallen
Review date: 2008-04-12 Rating: 6 out of 10

I think when people cease in believing in God, they begin to believe in anything. This doesn't mean you must be officially Christian, Muslim, Jewish or from every another religion, as Atheism is at last. This is a good movie, better than middle productions of this class, but it's in the wave of supposed supernatural happenings, and police it's very dubious the ideal organisation to cope with such things. Devils or Daemons are I suppose a little difficult to put in jail. Personally I think this is a temporal fashion but it can become more than this and a source of mental troubles for many people, weaker than others.




one of my fav films!
Review date: 2007-11-06 Rating: 10 out of 10

i don't buy many dvd's but when i saw this i had to buy it, really good story, denzel is great in this film, as are the rest of the cast, the soundtrack is really good too!

Average Denzel Fare
Review date: 2007-04-17 Rating: 6 out of 10

Although this movie does require your full attention, it does not go unrewarded and you are not left at the end scratching your head wondering what had happened for the past 2 hours. All the answers to your questions are in there and that is why I think this movie is average.

Original, intensifying, but ultimately rushed
Review date: 2006-02-12 Rating: 8 out of 10

When was the last time someone 'resurrected' the language of Aramaic in a movie? Well, there's THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, but that dealt with the last part of Christ's life, this movie has very little, if any, relation to religion or anything pertaining to religion. In FALLEN, which was made six years prior to TPOTC, the topic of the film isn't about the son of god and his final few hours, the movie deals with an evil that lived at the same time as christ and is possibly as old as him as well.

John Hobbes (Washington) is a straight-laced detective who bases his career around honesty, compassion and dedication. Not having any immediate family to care for, except his brother and nephew (Casseus and Pagen), Hobbes is 100% dedicated to his job. Hobbes becomes the centre of media attention when he captures wanted serial killer Edgar Reese (Koteas). Reese is executed and Hobbes thinks he's had his 15 minutes. But after Reese has been executed, and the body of an immigrant is found murdered, exactly in Reese's style, Hobbes is quick to pass it off as a copycat murder, but when a second innocent turns up dead, Hobbes realises that this is more than a copycat killing, there is something going on that goes way back in history, possibly back to the times of civilization.

FALLEN didn't make the mistake of hiring a top director, top actors and actresses or having a huge budget. Instead, director Gregory Hoblit (FREQUENCY, HART'S WAR) took the chair and, except for Donald Sutherland and Denzel Washington, no major acting talent was used. This is possibly something that saved FALLEN from being a total commercial disaster, but it made one of Hollywood's fatal mistake's, it was let down by a rushed ending. Coincidentally, another of Washington's films made the same mistake the year after FALLEN, THE BONE COLLECTOR, in which the tension is built up steadily and nicely throughout, and it is all blown by the ending.

Ultimately, the film is original, satisfying and tension-filled, but the ending prevented it from getting the full 5 stars.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Denzel Washington
John Goodman
James Gandolfini
Embeth Davidtz
Donald Sutherland

Creators:
Denzel Washington (Primary Contributor)
John Goodman (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 7321900064347
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 1998-10-26
Number of discs: 1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 124 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1998-01-16
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Arabic (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)

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