Fallen (1998)

Director:

Gregory Hoblit

Writer (WGA):

Nicholas Kazan (written by)

Release Date:

16 January 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Don't trust a soul.

Plot:

Homicide detective John Hobbes witnesses the execution of serial killer Edgar Reese. Soon after the execution the killings start again, and they are very similar to Reese's style.

Plot Keywords:

Azazel | Execution | Murder | Gas Chamber | Serial Killer

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Denzel Washington	...	John Hobbes
John Goodman	...	Jonesy
Donald Sutherland	...	Lt. Stanton
Embeth Davidtz	...	Gretta Milano
James Gandolfini	...	Lou
Elias Koteas	...	Edgar Reese
Gabriel Casseus	...	Art
Michael J. Pagan	...	Sam
Robert Joy	...	Charles
Frank Medrano	...	Charles' Killer
Ronn Munro	...	Mini Golf Owner
Cynthia Hayden	...	Society Woman
Ray Xifo	...	Society Man
Tony Michael Donnelly	...	Toby
Tara Carnes	...	Teenage Girl

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language.

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic | English | Aramaic

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | USA:R (certificate #35527) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Philippines:PG-13 | South Korea:15 | New Zealand:M | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Belgium:KT | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:16 (w) | Netherlands:16 (video rating) | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | Singapore:NC-16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Bear Mountain Bridge, New York, USA

Company:

Turner Pictures (I)

Trivia:

The precinct house and the squad room used are those in the long-running television series "NYPD Blue" (1993). The director Gregory Hoblit also directed "NYPD Blue" (1993). The actress Aida Turturro plays Tiffany and appears with James Gandolfini - later they would appear together in "The Sopranos" (1999). Nicholas Turturro appeared in "NYPD Blue" (1993).

Goofs:

Continuity: When Hobbes shoots the school teacher, after he fires one shot, his gun is apparently empty (the action on any semi-automatic 9mm handgun, like Hobbes' Glock, stays open when the final round is expended, as can be seen in the two quick cuts after the shot is fired). However, when Hobbes approaches the body in each view after-wards, the action of the gun is closed, indicating that he still has ammunition.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Azazel: I wanna tell you about the time I almost died....

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of 'Alien³' (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Time Is On My Side

Evil has a Face

***SPOILERS*** Unusual thriller about evil in the world today with Det. John Hobbs, Denzel Washington, targeted by this unknown and unseen force that makes it's way from person to person with just the touch of one's hand.

Doing a documentary on convicted serial murderer Reese, Elias Koteas, the person who's Det. Hobbs brilliant detective work brought him into the death house awaiting execution. Reese asks for just a brief moment with Det. Hobbs and surprisingly sticks his hand out for Det. Hobbs to shake, he does and that sets off a string of events. In the end they would leads Hobbs to the deserted cabin in the woods to have it out with the Demon Azazel who, through Reese, had condemned him to death.

We see Let. Hobbs at the beginning of the movie "Fallen" crawling through the snow around the cabin that he was staying at obviously dying. The movie then takes us back to happier time with Det. Hobbs at the big house, state prison, attending Reese's execution as one of the witnesses. Reese not at all afraid of what's to happen to him as he's strapped into the state gas chamber calmly sings, as the gas pellets are dropped into the acid bath, the Rolling Stones song "Time is on my Side",yes it is. Let. Hobbs and his fellow cops later saw in the film Reese was right, dead right.

The movie "Fallen" mixes the occult into a big city police drama and comes out a winner by doing it. Det. Hobbs slowly begins to notices that there's something very strange in what's happening to him. At first Hobbs feels that he's being set up to be framed, possibly by his fellow policemen, for a number of murders that has his fingerprints all over the crime scene.

Hobbs tracking down a clue that leads him to unearth the files of a cop Robert Milano, the 1965 cop of the year, who like himself was somehow framed for a string of killings back in the 1960's. Milano in what seemed like, an act of depression drove out to his country home and then calmly blew his brains out. Getting in touch with the late Officer Malano's daughter Gretta, Embeth Davidzt, Hobbs finds out from her things that he'd rather not since, if believed by him, it will destroys his perception of reality.

It doesn't take Hobbs that long to realize how right Gretta is with the evil directed at him,that was released by Reese, and later his family with his brother Art, Gabriel Casseus, ending up dead from a overdose of drugs. Hobbs now a rue believer knows just what he had to do to stop this sinister force that's been on earth together with man since the dawn of creation.

Hobbs now a wanted man drives to the same cabin where Officer Malano killed himself some thirty years ago to finish the job that Malano started.There was a reason for Malano's madness but in the end he failed in what he set out to do then, destroy the evil demon Azazel. Hobbs made sure that this time around he, unlike Malano, would succeed.

Powerhouse ending that will leave you as exhausted and out of breath as it did Det. Hobbs when the evil that hounded him throughout the film "Fallen" finally reveals itself in those cold lonely and uninhabited woods. Only to find out that he,Hobbs, not it had the best hand of cards from what it, the evil, thought was a stacked deck against him.