Fister Roboto

Article by FisterRoboto of lefthandhorror.com

Directed by Greg Spence

Written by Gregory Widen & Matt Greenberg

Starring Christopher Walken, Russell Wong and Jennifer Beals

Gabriel returns to Earth to prevent the birth of a child conceived by one of his kind (the Angel Daniel) and one of God’s “monkeys” (a human woman – Valerie). The coming of this child has been prophecised by a monk, Thomas. When the Angel Daniel kills members of Gabriel’s army of angels, Gabriel instead employs the assistance of a teenage girl (Izzy) who has just committed suicide. Gabriel keeps her alive to assist him in his war against Daniel and the other angels which climaxes in a battle in Eden.

Man, I loved these movies back in the early 90′s. There really hadn’t been any cool movies featuring angels/fallen angels up to this point. Prophecy and Prophecy II made some improvements to the genre. Any movie dealing with angels warring on earth is going to be really good or just terrible. That’s kind of a hard topic to approach in a cool fashion.

Walken as the archangel, Gabriel, is awesome. His pale white skin combined with his dyed hair makes him look like a chemo patient or something. His ferocity is matched only by his disdain of us humans, or “monkeys” as he calls us. As old as time itself and with a working relationship with the almighty God, has definitely made him bitter and stronger as he races to wipe out the monkeys once and for all. His character is just a different kind of spooky. Almost like a child, he views some things of the earth with very innocent intentions. Thrown off his game by computers and modern technology, he of course finds a helper. Brittany Murphy (RIP) fills the thrall role after committing suicide with her lover. Gabriel suggest she come to and assist him, and assist him she does.

Glenn Danzig portrays the angel Samayel. Danzig was huge in the 90′s with his gloomy religion-inspired imagery and sound, and the role is good for him. I bought it. The cool thing about this movie is the angels themselves. The fights are violently grand and you can feel the civil war intensity within each Heavenly messenger, be him good or bad. Eric Roberts rounds out the archangels as the big guy, Michael.

There are so many opportunities for this flick to tank in a heartbeat, but it manages to doggie paddle throughout, never turning into a cliche and cheesy take on the war in Heaven. The effects are cool and subtle at times. Instead of seeing an angel spread his massive wingspan directly, the director chose to show the huge winged shadow against the pulpit of a church. The acting is great from Walken, and just okay from the others. Jennifer Beals shines in her role as an unsuspecting mother-to-be. She makes love to an angel and quickly finds out her role in all the weirdness happening around her.

All in all, if you like movies about Heaven and all the things that inhabit the spiritual realms, then you’ll most likely enjoy this movie, If you watch this one, make sure to catch the first movie, as Lucifer is 100% awesome.

Enjoy, kids.