Angels Fallen: Warriors of Peace

Fallen Angels: Warriors of Peace has the same vibe and spirit of those Universal direct-to-video films. It has more going on under the hood with its biblical references and at the very least, it isn't trying to be one of those terrible Christian propaganda films that no one watches and are only successful because of the grift from that sect of customers and creatives. This is just a middling action film with some decent action and a few recognizable faces that could be doing better, but have found themselves here like some chosen warriors to be the next batch of direct-to-video stars. It's a shame, because some of these actors have been in better stuff, but that's just how things go from time to time. If you like the vibe of those sy-fy channel original movies or are a specialist in direct-to-video schlock, then give it a watch. Otherwise, you can just go watch that 90s Arnold Schwarzenegger film End of Days or the Keanu Reeves-starred Constantine. This is easily a film I would watch once on a lark and then never again.

Good?

Well, the basic idea isn't that bad. However, the execution is abominable. Script is probably OK, but the pace is terribly slow. The beginning is rhapsodic and not really connecting the pieces and everything (of course) leads to the big, umm, monster fight at the end. Acting is atrocious but the daemons should have made Ray Harryhausen (famous old stop-motion animator from way, way, waaay back) proud.

I do, however, like the tuned down music. I often find that the music score is overpowering.

The scenery is great, though. The old USSR tourist agency Intourist would have appointed a medal for the footage. Georgia is a beautiful country to visit. Except in these times since Russia occupies two major parts of the country.

But, puhlease, director/scriptwriter et al! Don't do this again! 'K?

The plot's been done a million times before so you know what you're getting here, but the execution of it is so bad it's hard to watch. To start with, they acting is bad, I mean really bad. The thing about acting is you have to make the viewers think that you're feeling what you're saying instead of sounding like you're reading from a script in a monotone. Stone-faced line delivery kills the mood. Denise Richards tries but I was so distracted feeling sorry for her from what must have been a hive of bees stinging her lips before she got to the set. "MEDIC, we need Benadryl here STAT!!!" Next the writing: I couldn't tell if they were trying to sneak in a religious movie under the guise of a sci-fi action film or if the script writer had ADHD and couldn't stay on point. Third: The editing is just frustrating. There's no flow here. The movie goes from long shots to quick (and I mean real quick) cuts so many times that it's distracting; add to that when they go to hand held shaky cam mode it can bring on nausea. There's no pacing here. I've never seen a movie so bad at piecing together scenes that don't go together so often. There's too many times in this movie where you ask yourself "Ok, who is this and what's going on here?" Fourth: Fire the fight scene choreographer. I mean they must have told Cuba Gooding 'Ok, just swing the blade in this direction and we'll add the demons in post edit". Denise Richards cuts the head off of a creature that just stands there taking it, and the mano a mano fights are almost in slow motion but you realize it's real time. This movie fails on so many levels that it makes Plan 9 look like a masterpiece. Some of these reviews were obviously written by people who either made the movie or are friends or relatives trying to keep the numbers up, because there's no way this rates above a 3. The only positive in the film is the CGI was done well. At least someone did their job right.

Gabriel (Josh Burdett) is an Iraq War vet who is struggling with his war experience and lost his faith. He is visited by the angel Balthazar (Cuba Gooding Jr.) who is recruiting him for a battle to save the world.

I do wonder if this is a sly under-the-table religious film. Apparently, there is a first movie before this which is far worst. My initial take is that Cuba is looking rough. It's been a rough few years for him and I can see it in his face. As for the lead, I don't know who Josh Burdett is. All I know is that he is not the leading man type. The whole cast is a little below requirement level. The CG monsters are better than expected. The directing is weak and the writing is bad. Mostly this needs better actors.

The whole storyline had great potential, with the characters bond, and the monsters they are yet to go up against, the film seems to have something viewers would love to see. Unfortunately, the whole film was awful. The acting was terrible, and the fight scenes could have had a lot more, well, fighting in them. Instead, I feel the power rangers would be more interesting to watch. I'm actually quite gutted and disappointed really because I really wanted this to be a great success as the storyline is brilliant. Instead I deeply feel it is a great flop, but only because the acting was just awful.