The Prophecy

A Story About the Battle Between Angels

Happy Monday, Belles & Beaux!

I know, I went MIA again this past week. But in truth, it’s due to a ton of stress I’ve been experiencing in the recent months and hopefully it’s going to be gone soon so that I can get back to what I love doing – writing for all of y’all!

Today we’re going to talk about a film that I find hardly anyone my age has seen, but is one of my absolute favorites called The Prophecy.

Tommy Dagget wanted to be a priest, but lost his faith and became a cop instead. He once wrote a learned treatise on angels, so when a physiologically abnormal individual is found murdered and a copy of Dagget’s study discovered on the crime scene, he’s assigned to investigate. What he uncovers is a literal war of angels. These supernatural creatures, led by the vicious Gabriel, are a tormented, murderous lot, warped by God’s rejection in favor of “talking monkeys” called the human race. The angel Simon travels to a dying Western town and steals the soul of a recently deceased psychopath. Gabriel wants it back, because such souls increase his power. Simon hides it in the body of a small girl, and the race is on. Who will get to the little Mary first, the sinister angels, or the forces of human good?

This movie released in 1995 – two years after I was born – and sadly it has tons of crappy reviews. For me, this movie delves into the idea of faith and the war of Heaven and Hell in a way that most movies wouldn’t probably dare to even attempt to touch in today’s heated world. I’ll fully admit there are some points I disagree with when it comes to this movie. It gets a little crazy towards the end and slumps off – but not before Viggo Mortensen shows up as Lucifer Morningstar himself. The highlight of the whole movie for me besides Elias Koteas blowing my mind.

The movie doesn’t really have that start studded of a cast. Christopher Walken, Elias Koteas, and Viggo Mortensen being the biggest names that I recognized in it – years after I had been introduced to many of their other pieces of work. My mom introduced me to this movie and I can still say it’s one of the most off the wall movie that I can say that I love. Elias blows my mind in this movie for some odd reason, and I’ve never been able to quite put my finger on what it is.

Thomas Dagget (Koteas) was one moment away from becoming a priest. When he knelt down to pray before it was to happen, God chose to show him something more than he could have ever expected to see. This pushed him from his faith to pursue a career as a cop. He’s been fine until Simon shows up in search of a malevolent soul so that he can keep Gabriel from finding it.

The movie isn’t just about the fight between Heaven and Hell though. Gabriel (Walken) is jealous of God’s love for humans (monkeys according to Walken’s Gabriel) and this has caused a second war between the angels. There are those that are trying to protect the human race, such as Simon, and there are those that believe as Gabriel does. Meanwhile, Lucifer explains that no human soul has been allowed into Heaven. If Gabriel wins, then Heaven becomes a second Hell – which Lucifer is not big on. If the humans win, then Heaven opens to us as we have always had it described in the bible.

I truly love Viggo’s portrayal of Lucifer – considering the very few incarnations we’ve seen in movie lore. I say he beats Al Pacino and the guy who played Lucifer in the TV show. But I might be quite biased because it’s Viggo.

As I said, I can see where people feel that the movie gets a little hoaxy towards the end, but I quite enjoy it as it sets up the rest of the movies. There are a total of five in all, but unlike the first one, the others were all straight to DVD. The first one will always be my favorite, mainly because of the fact that it sets the story up as well as Viggo’s small show in it.