Denzel Washington

John Goodman

Donald Sutherland

Embeth Davidtz

James Gandolfini

Elias Koteas

Gabriel Casseus

Robert Joy

Aida Turturro

Michael J. Pagan

Frank Medrano

Ronn Munro

Cynthia Hayden

Ray Xifo

Tony Michael Donnelly

Tara Carnes

Reno Wilson

Wendy Cutler

Jeff Tanner

Jerry Walsh

Bob Rumnock

Ellen Sheppard

Christian Aubert

Bill Clark

Allelon Ruggiero

Jill Holden

Drucie McDaniel

John R. Russell

Lynn Wanlass

John Descano

Cress Williams

Rick Warner

Jim Grimshaw

Brandon Zitin

Rozwill Young

Michael Shamus Wiles

Frank Davis

Barry Shabaka Henley

Mike Cicchetti

Chuck Jeffreys

Ben Siegler

Jason George

Anika Hawkins

Stan Kang

Thomas J. McCarthy

Sheila Bader

Elleanor Jean Hendley

Michael Aron

Byron Scott

Pat Ciarrocchi

Steve Highsmith

Kent Manahan

Ford Austin

Graham Beckel

Andrew DePalma

Kurt Leitner

Sal Mazzotta

J. Emerson McGowan

Selvyn Price

Gary Rodriguez

Scott Roman

Aaron Sadovsky

Gregory Hoblit

Charles Roven

Dawn Steel

Nicholas Kazan

Colleen Atwood

Lawrence Jordan

David Rubin

Terence Marsh

William Cruse

Michael Seirton

Newton Thomas Sigel

Kenneth Walker

Peggy Schierholz

Larry M. Cherry

Edna Sheen

René Dashiell Kerby

Rebecca Alling

Rebecca DeHerrera

Sebastian Milito

Tim Weston

Christopher Neely

Ron Yates

Lance Brown

Michael Herbick

Robert J. Litt

Elliot Tyson

Bruce Fortune

James Fredburg

Kent Houston

Phil Neilson

Ernie F. Orsatti

Ron Goodman

Kyle Rudolph

Dylan Goss

Jeremy Braben

Jerome Fauci

Lisa Lovaas

Robert Brakey

Tom Kramer

Russell Clark

Julie Stevens

Patricia Graf

Richard Suckle

Kelley Smith-Wait

Elon Dershowitz

Robert Cavallo

Ted Kurdyla

Nilo Otero

Willie E. Simmons, Jr.

Marilyn Bailey

Marion Tumen

Keith Smith

Matthew T. Weiner

Harvey Epstein

Greg Hale

Jay Meagher

Mitchell Ray Kenney

Ronna Kress

Anthony Milch

Robert Troy

Howard Neiman

Shawn Sykora

Michael Dressel

Jay Nierenberg

Gary Mundheim

Richard E. Yawn

Lance Laurienzo

Scott Shadden

Shawn Egan

Marsha Sorce

Will Blount

Tan Dun

Andrea Horta

Joseph A. Mayer

Mary Andrews

Nancy MacLeod

Crime

Drama

Thriller

Fallen

Warner Bros. Pictures

Turner Pictures

Atlas Entertainment

Turner Entertainment

United States of America

CinemaSerf

I must have watched this film three or four times now, and each time it takes me the first half hour to recall. It's an intriguing story rooted in Aramaic mythology but applied to 20th century Philadelphia. "Hobbes" (Denzel Washington) is a detective who worked on the case of serial killer "Edgar Reese" that saw him captured and executed. Not long after this supposed closure, however, other - very similar - crimes start to occur and he and his partner "Jonesy" (John Goodman) are perplexed. He keeps hearing a song - the same song the deceased sang as he died, but the people singing it are different. There is something mysterious afoot that can inhabit a body, move effortlessly and invisibly from one to another - and it seems to have "Hobbes" in it's sights. Desperate to shield his family from this evil, he must try to find a way to destroy it before it destroys him. It all takes too long to get going, and Goodman is not particularly well cast, but once we have the gist of the plot then Washington and director Gregory Hoblit turn in quite a well put together story, using the photography well to give us a perspective from our menace whilst effectively conveying the sense of nimble mobility this creature possesses as the resourceful "Hobbes" tries to combat it. Donald Sutherland pops up now and again, to no real purpose, indeed much of the supporting cast sort of blend into the wallpaper of this exercise that really plays to the strengths of an on-form Washington delivering a solid and interesting theme. It's too long, but still worth watching.

I generally have a distaste for movies where Denzel plays the smart cop/government agent/detective because he does it far too often, he seems to be typecast, and it's a waste of pro talent.  He's above playing the same sort of role over and over again.

But this is one of the exceptions.  He does an excellent job, but despite this, it's not Washington you remember.  You remember Elias Koteas and he's only in the film for a few short minutes.  It's remarkable that in a Denzel Washington movie, someone else steals the most memorable role, and it's even more rare that the role you remember has nearly the least amount of screen time.

So... it's already off to a good start, or at least a memorable one.  Those are two things that tend not to happen.

But then you have a William Holden noir style character monologue that is actually done right and adds more to the story's atmosphere than it really should.  You have a spooky plot, and on top of that you have some extremely well done and downright spooky scenes.

From start to finish it's just a well executed movie, a well acted movie, and one that deserves to be remembered a bit more than it is.

It's one of the movies that I always recommend to people.

English

Nederlands

Fallen Trailer [1998]

Original Theatrical Trailer