The Prophecy 3: The Ascent

Unlike most films which carry the number 3 in it, The Prophecy III proves to be the most energetic and satisfying film in the trilogy. I can't say enough good things about it. The story while drawing from the previous films still brings the story to a close with it's own ideas and new directions for old characters. The best thing about Prophecy III is that it never does what you'd expect. Christopher Walken returns to the story once again as Gabriel the former angel of death now humble wandering human. The filmmakers have taken great care in recreating Gabriel while still having him be familiar too us. Still speaking in that menacing tone of his and piercing us with those eyes that see more than what is there. The movie somewhat mirrors T2. The villain is now the protector. Which I loved. The story revolves around The half angel half human neraphim of Prophecy II who is plagued by visions and compelled to stop the angel of genocide Pyriel. Enter Zophael, an assasin angel sent to Earth to destroy the neraphim Danyael. As before there are protectors. In this case it is the coroner from the previous two films who is tired of examining bodies with no eyes, the girlfriend who is taken hostage by Zophael as Gabriel had taken human slaves in the previous films, and finally Gabriel himself who does not have the lead role in this movie but shows up to deliver very compelling dialogue and give great foreshadowing for things to come. The story is in full drive for the whole movie. A surprising cameo in the end and a somewhat recreation of a scene from The Prophecy will have you rolling if you are a fan of the films. If the movie suffers from anything it is that all three films are well..the same. An angel chasing after a human to further the war in heaven. Human slaves are always taken by the angel in order to defeat the human who is always helped by another human. But despite that, Prophecy III has the same darkness of the original and a striking and subtle music score. This is not a film for first time Prophecy viewers. Go through the first two and if you like them then The Prophecy III will have you believing in The Word and that not all sequels to sequels bite.

The Prophesy 3 was somewhat disappointing but still an above average flick. I would say it is the least of the three movies. The finale did not seem to be worth making a trilogy about. Plus it is somewhat confusing what happened at the end. The scope of the first two films led me to expect something grander. On a positive note, the special effects in this installment were the best of the trilogy.

The pace was a little stop-and-go for my taste: too many flashbacks and too long between the action. The humorous parts were funny but at the same time it undermined the atmosphere that the series is based on.

Christopher Walken again stole the show. He has perhaps the best delivery of any actor and can manage to handle lines that should have never been in the script. The two costars I thought lacked screen presence (or at least compared to Walken).

Overall, this was an enjoyable ending to a surprisingly good trilogy.

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.

Great! I liked it! It made up for the disappointing second part. Even neatly tied up some of its loose ends. In retrospect you might even believe that part 2 was a brave underachiever that failed to deliver on purpose, because it was only meant as a bridge between 1 and 3. But let's not get carried away.

Christopher Walken driving in a beat up convertible through the desert, playing the trumpet. Need I say more?

I was pleasantly surprised when I watched Prophecy III. After enjoying the first two immensely, I had expected the series to fall apart in its final installment. The third film, however, is a pleasure to watch, and not just for the incomparable Christopher Walken. Vincent Spano (Zophael) was excellent, and had great lines (especially in the donut shop scene, where he says "I'll take one of those...with the coloured fragments on top"). I thought Dave Buzzotta played a good Danyael (except near the end, when he seemed to get a little snotty).

My only complaint is that I don't think Christopher Walken was meant to have long hair...

In all a great sequel!