Anjos Caídos: Guerreiros da Paz

When will I learn to check how many people have contributed to the average IMDB rating? I saw 6.5, which is comfortably above my tolerance threshold. I had also seen two pretty glowing reviews (in retrospect, I'm thinking possibly relatives of people involved in the making of the film?), so I dove. Three minutes in, however, I went back to see only 25 (at that time) people had rated it. More friends and family of cast and crew, I guess.

Sure the script was laughable, but the performances were wretched! The dialogue is painful, the main characters stare off vacantly much of the time (perhaps the actors were wishing they were anywhere but on the set), and the special effects weren't very....special. I don't think it's worth going into any more detail than that. Take your chances if you must, but I recommend a hard pass-unless you like that campy, it's so bad it's good, kind of thing.

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.

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.

I really don't have much to say, only that they got addicted playing with Efx as they are with Meth! As for Cuba? SMH!!! Went from Radio, Medal of Honor to this? Diddy do it? His performance on Boyz n the Hood wasn't that up to par, but was better than this... This!!! It damaged me, my eyes, ears, soul! The monsters look like paper mache or claymation.. I wouldn't have brought it out! Diddy Free Cuba! I'd rather watch Great Space Coaster or Reading Rainbow. Whoever directed this is not a good master at his craft! Only thought in yo mind, O" I got Cuba in it, he's gonna make me money. Well you got lucky but tricked the world, next movie won't be believable. Please make a better movie next time.

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.