Fallen
Fallen
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.
匚卂尺ㄥ reviewedMarch 19, 2025
This stylish and extremely well crafted film is one of the most underated movies ever.It has it all, with subtle and realistic performances from an excellent blend of actors including Denzel Washington, a thoughtful John Goodman and the ever unfathomable Donald Sutherland.
It also has a real sense of suspense and tension, and a very nice and very cleverly angled take on the well trod path of the supernatural.
Washington is sublime as Detective John Hobbes, paired with a superb Goodman(don't think Roseanne because he's just in a different world here),who thinks he's seen the last of a serial killer when he witnesses his execution, but who realizes slowly that somehow the spirit of the deceased lives on. As copycat murders begin, slowly drawing Hobbes into an epic but essentially private battle of Evil and Good, it dawns on him that he isn't fighting any ordinary being, but rather an almost immortal devil whose world weary attention Hobbes has unfortunately pricked!
The film's pace is deliberately steady but never, never lets up as it gradually winds it way on to it's conclusion, where we have the final and best twist of this laconic classic.
I can't recommend this movie highly enough, it is such a jewel amongst all the crud that's followed since Seven. In fact it stands on it's own without comparison to any other film, set amongst the broody backdrop of an industrial Northern Usa city, as one of the best most beautifully wrought movies of our time.
Get it and enjoy it again and again.These rare well made and engrossing performances are the stuff Oscars should be made of, not overbites and false noses! Sail on Fallen - Time is most definitely on your side!