By Doug Levy
Arizona Daily Wildcat
January 16, 1998

It's 'Fallen' and it don't let up

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Arizona Daily Wildcat Denzel Washington (l) and John Goodman in the paranormal thriller "Fallen." The film opens in theaters today.

Remember that feeling you had right after watching "Seven"? You know, where you have to struggle to keep your mouth from hanging open, and you're overwhelmed with a queasy sense of disquiet? That's what "Fallen" does to you.

Starring Denzel Washington as seasoned homicide detective John Hobbes, "Fallen" is the story of a primal evil, an almost undefeatable enemy who has the power to undermine everything we think we know about the world and how it works.

Hobbes is the man behind the arrest of psychotic serial killer Edgar Reese (Elias Koteas), a theatrical madman who loved to play twisted puzzle games with his pursuers prior to his capture. Even as Reese is being prepared for execution, he keeps the dramatics in full effect, presenting Detective Hobbes with a riddle and intensely spouting cryptic, indecipherable sentences. When Reese goes to the gas chamber, he sings to the watching crowd, raising his voice maniacally as the smoke begins to rise.

And then it's over.

Only it's just begun.

Shortly after Reese's death, a series of murders begins to take place, precisely following the deceased criminal's MO. Further investigation leads Hobbes to Gretta Milano (Embeth Davidtz), the daughter of a police officer who has been dead for over thirty years. Strangely enough, Milano seems to be quite aware of what's going on, only she doesn't want anything to do with it.

Events continue to escalate, and suddenly Hobbes has become a suspect in the very crimes he's trying to solve. The more he learns about the truth, the less he can trust anyone around him. Because what Hobbes is learning indicates that Edgar Reese was no more than a pawn in a game that has been going on for centuries, with the ultimate prize being the fate of humanity itself. And the opponent is a foe of biblical proportions.

True, for the first hour or so of "Fallen," we could be watching the long-awaited "X-Files" movie, starring Denzel Washington as Fox Mulder and John Goodman as his partner, um, Dana Scully. But while "Fallen" may have the popular TV series to thank for inspiration, or for creating an audience starving for supernatural crime thrillers, it is ultimately a work that stands entirely on its own.

In other words, don't take that to mean there is anything derivative about this film. The characters are, almost without exception, believable, original and appealing. Washington, as usual, turns in a fantastic performance, never letting the initial level of intensity drop for a second. And although this is, without a doubt, his movie, the supporting cast is nearly flawless as well.

John Goodman, especially, as Jonesy, Hobbes' partner on the force, provides an excellent counterpart to Washington's increasingly frantic character. His performance covers the full range of his enviable ability, from his laid-back Dan Connor ("Roseanne") persona all the way to his truly frightening bad-guy-from-"Barton Fink."

Elias Koteas, as Reese, and Gabriel Casseus, as Hobbes' brother, Art, show just how much it's possible to do with a smaller role, as does Donald Sutherland, who mixes just the right amount of mystery into his character, Lieutenant Stanton, so that we never know exactly where he stands.

Director Gregory Hoblit, who has worked on just about every TV cop show ever and scored a hit with "Primal Fear," is extremely adept at blurring the lines between the everyday world of crime and drama populated by the police and the larger, unseen reality that potentially exists beyond it.

Additionally, through creative photography and design (thanks to Director of Photography Newton Thomas Sigel and Production Designer Terence Marsh) that mixes a bleak vision of the modern world with disorienting distorted views through the eyes of a monster, "Fallen" creates an atmosphere that is both compelling and frightening, a visual and aesthetic cousin to the bleak world of "Seven," which also achieved a good deal of its ends through visual means.

Plotwise, "Fallen" builds steadily, carrying the audience along with engaging dialogue, action, and introspection as it raises the stakes, not to mention constant effective twists, and when it reaches its climactic moment, it delivers without hesitation, leaving us completely satisfied, if not a little (or a lot) disturbed.

There's even the added bonus that the film is sure to repopularize the Rolling Stones' classic recording of "Time Is On My Side," although you'll probably never be able to listen to it again without getting a bit of a chill.