Give the creators and cast of "Fallen" some credit. Few of the recent slate of serial killer movies have attempted to tweak the genre as this one does (with the addition of some creepy supernatural overtones), and fewer still have tried to develop realistic flesh-and-blood characters.
Unfortunately, it's a flawed experiment. Despite stylish direction (by Gregory Hoblit, who has helmed several episodes of TV's "NYPD Blue") and some strong performances, the film ultimately becomes just another formulaic thriller — and one with a very disappointing ending.
In fact, its conclusion is such a cop-out that it practically screams for a sequel. However, unless audiences embrace this uneven suspense-thriller, that's about as unlikely as another "Twin Peaks" movie.
Then again, the leads are very good, especially Denzel Washington, who stars as John Hobbes, a homicide detective in Philadelphia. As the film opens, Hobbes and his partner Jonesy (John Goodman) are present for the execution of Edgar Reese (Elias Koteas), a particularly vicious murderer.
Before he departs this mortal coil, Reese tries to touch Hobbes and mumbles vague threats at him in what sounds like an unknown foreign language. Even more troubling is the fact that the killings don't stop with Reese's execution — instead they continue, following the same pattern.
The puzzled detective eventually turns to Gretta Milano (Embeth Davidtz), a theological expert, for help. She tells him Reese may have been possessed by Azazel, an evil "fallen" angel. At the same time, Azazel steps up his attacks by attempting to get to Hobbes through his brother (Gabriel Casseus) and nephew (Michael J. Pagan).
To his credit, Hoblit does a nice job of filming things from the demon's point of view, which enhances a particularly bizarre and intense "chase" scene through the streets of Philadelphia. And Washington and his co-stars really do try to flesh out their characters (Goodman and veteran character actor James Gandolfini make terrific screen detectives).
But it's all undone by Nick Kazan's script, which tries to be thoughtful but all too often finds itself straying into the same territory as the awful Wes Craven thriller "Shocker."
"Fallen is rated R for profanity, violence, some vulgar references, brief gore, brief male nudity and use of some racial epithets.