Shortly after thinking that he'd brought an end to a series of murders, a homicide detective starts to realise that the perpetrator is still at large and is also someone who couldn't possibly be arrested or brought to justice by conventional methods. The way in which his investigation leads him to these findings and the formulation of a highly unconventional plan to end the killings, provides "Fallen" with its extremely offbeat plot. This well-written story begins very colourfully in a way that raises a lot of questions and then proceeds through the investigation stage before reaching it brilliantly twisted conclusion.

Having been responsible for capturing serial killer Edgar Reese (Elias Koteas), Detective John Hobbes (Denzel Washington) visits him on death row immediately prior to his execution. Reese's behaviour at this time is rather strange as he thrusts his hand out strongly to shake hands with Hobbes and sets him a riddle to solve. He then talks loudly in ancient Syrian Aramaic and later, in the gas chamber, loudly sings "Time Is On My Side" until he can't anymore.

A little while later, Hobbes has to investigate a further series of murders which are carried out in the same style as those committed by Reese and a clue he finds at one of the crime scenes leads him to research the case of a well-respected detective from his department who, 30 years earlier, had committed suicide at a remote woodland cabin after being accused of crimes he didn't commit. Hobbes' research leads him to the detective's daughter, Gretta Milano (Embeth Davidtz) who's a theology professor. She's initially very reluctant to talk but confirms that her father took his own life because of incriminating evidence against him which he felt he wouldn't be able to disprove.

When Hobbes visits the cabin where Milano had killed himself, he finds the name "Azazel" written on one of the walls and Gretta later confirms that it refers to a fallen angel who, after being cast out of heaven, had been made formless as a punishment and could only continue to exist in the bodies of others. The demon's ability to pass from body to body simply by touch made it extremely dangerous and impossible to stop. Hobbes begins to realise that he's actually in a dual against a very formidable adversary who's determined to destroy him and so, when evidence starts to appear which implicates Hobbes in the murders he's investigating, he knows that he's rapidly being put in the same situation that detective Milano had been in and so devises a scheme to outwit the demon and bring a permanent end to the havoc he wreaks.

Denzel Washington is very natural and believable as the decent detective who has never taken a bribe in his career and believes that cops are "the chosen people". This extremely rational man remains typically methodical and professional as he pursues what turns out to be a supernatural serial killer and is confident that his approach will eventually enable him to put a stop to the demon's killing spree. John Goodman, James Gandolfini and Donald Sutherland all do well as Hobbes' police colleagues and Elias Koteas makes a powerful impression in his role which gives him tremendous scope to display his abilities.

Thrillers which include the type of subject matter featured in "Fallen" often resort to sensationalism, gratuitous violence and endings that use some previously unknown piece of information to bring matters to a close. The fact that "Fallen" avoids all these pitfalls is very much to its credit, especially as its brilliantly twisted conclusion follows on perfectly from all that preceded it and puts an entirely different perspective on what appeared to happen in the movie's opening scenes.

The great cast already hints at it, "Fallen" is a great movie.

Best way to watch this movie is to not know too much about it. Just pick up the movie and let it surprise you. It's like "Identity", the less you know about it, the better.

Director Gregory Hoblit is a great and underrated director. He knows how to get the maximum out of everything. He also directed the movies "Primal Fear" and "Frequency" and much acclaimed television series episodes for "Hill Street Blues", "L.A. Law" and "NYPD Blue".

Really great about the movie is the story by Nicholas Kazan (yes, indeed the son of...). It's supernatural but it still knows how to remain believable and realistic. The viewer never knows what he is going to get and what will happen next. This is why it is best not to know too much about this movie's story before viewing it for the first time. All of the story its surprises will work better this way.

A bit of an forgotten underrated movie.

8/10

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I might have given "Fallen" a higher grade if it hadn't been an obvious rehash of Wes Craven's inventive "Shocker", in which a killer gets executed but his spirit keeps getting passed around to different people. OK, so Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Donald Sutherland, Embeth Davidtz, James Gandolfini and Elias Koteas do a good job with their roles (especially Goodman when imitating Mick Jagger), but watching the movie, I just kept repeating to myself: "This is basically a 'Shocker' rip-off." So, my advice to you is to watch Wes Craven's original version. I do wish to assert that it's actually more interesting.