The Prophecy 3: The Ascent

I loved the first Prophecy movie. A whole new take on religion & mythology, dipped in post-Pulp Fiction action & entertainment.

Though a bit of a disappointment, I still liked the sequel.

And then came part 3. Great stuff! An intriguing story - though perhaps not entirely satisfactory in the end - providing a sense of closure to the series.

We see familiar faces from previous parts make a re-appearance, neatly tying things together. Gabriel himself, having lived as a human for many years since part 2, has come to see the world from an entirely different perspective, changing his role in the series, and making for some interesting and funny scenes and dialogue.

On an action level this does not disappoint either. The angels fight in interesting ways; their fights and jumping around seem kind of Matrix-inspired, but not as over-the-top CGI-ed as in Matrix.

All in all, this movie is great fun. If you liked the first movie, give the other parts a chance. Otherwise, you'll be missing out, IMHO.

Anti-God Danyael Rosales is a street preacher. He's also a Nephilim, half-human and half-Angel. Gabriel (Christopher Walken) is in the audience when he's gunned down by a blind assassin. Gabriel has to protect him as angel Zophael (Vincent Spano) comes to take out his heart. Joseph (Steve Hytner) witnesses Danyael's resurrection and tells his girlfriend Maggie about the ongoing battle.

This is undeniably straight-to-video B-movie. It's hitting the conventional beats. Walken is playing a good guy in this sequel, and it doesn't feel right. He doesn't have as much fun. This feels very conventional which is a bit of a letdown. This franchise has been rather messy and chaotic. Through it all, there is Walken. This one is less messy, and Walken is less fun.

The third of the PROPHECY films and the last featuring Christopher Walken, although even so this one's a straight-to-video outing. The plot is fast-paced and has plenty going on, but at the same time it's quite simplistic and essentially involves the bad guys chasing the good guys around and them occasionally fighting. Quite small scale given the subject matter and a few CGI scenes don't really serve to make much of an impact either. Walken seems disconnected to the rest of the story but has some fun, the scene with him in the car probably being the best part, and there's a neat little turn from Brad Dourif too.

I've have just sat through "The Prophecy" parts one, two and three. And I must admit that it is of course because of Christopher Walken that I did so. I enjoyed the previous two movies a lot more than I did with this third installment in the franchise.

The storyline in "The Prophecy 3: The Ascent" wasn't just really fulfilling for me in a sense, especially because the Gabriel character had lost all of his charm and wits from the previous two movies, and Christopher Walken wasn't really given much to work with in terms of the character in this third movie.

It was nice, however, to see Brad Dourif in the movie, despite of having a fairly small role. It was a shame that his role wasn't bigger, because he could definitely have spruced up the movie phenomenally, and his character definitely had potential to be something interesting. I can't claim to be particularly familiar with Scott Cleverdon, but he definitely portrayed the Pyriel character quite well. And like Brad Dourif, it was a shame that he wasn't given more screen time. And Vincent Spano was also portraying the Zophael character quite well.

"The Prophecy 3: The Ascent" is not as packed with famous acting talents as the previous two movies were, which was a shame somehow.

There was just something missing from "The Prophecy 3: The Ascent" to make it as outstanding, interesting and enjoyable as the previous two movies. And as a third movie in the franchise it didn't really carry with it much from the previous movies, so you don't necessarily have to watch the previous two movies prior to watching the third movie. I would recommend it, though, solely for having the background of the Gabriel character.

First, let me say that I loved the first film in this series. I liked the second one; but after seeing the third, and how it ties things together from all three films and completes the tale, I love them all.

Make no mistake, the second and third film change the direction of the story told in the first one quite dramatically. In fact, many items that were throw-aways from the first film come back to become rather important details once the three films are put together.

In this trilogy we see the fall, redemption, rise and ascent of Gabriel as one of the generals in God's Army. And Mr. Walken is at his best for all three films.