Fallen — A Good Old-School Suspense Thriller
The 1998 film “Fallen” stars Denzel Washington, John Goodman and Donald Sutherland (all a lot younger). It is a dark murder mystery for Homicide Detective John Hobbes and his partner of 12 years Jonesy (John Goodman). The darkness comes from the netherworld, where Satanic forces can infiltrate a human mind and body (and animals as we find out), with the simple physical touch from one person to another. In a quick game of tag — you're it, the last person touched assumes a sinister purpose, at the sick whim of Azazel, one of God’s fallen angels.
Azazel speaks through his human hosts in foreign tongues, leaving cryptic, biblical messages at the crime scenes. The old school police crime solving techniques was refreshing, where the crime isn’t solved in a quick glance by some super performing police technician. The score was simple, but effective, with Time On My Side by the Rolling Stones sung over and over by the growing number of people toughed by Azazel, as he (or it) pursues Hobbes. Why is Hobbes Azazel’s target? Maybe because he’s a good guy, a good detective, and in Hobbes own words, does a lot more for this world than all the other professions one can think of. His love for his brother, Art, seems pure and Hobbes’ reaction to his murder seems genuine. Not much blood and guts in this one, no one firing off 1000 rounds and no one gets hurt. Just some simple, well planned serial murders.
I liked the story telling voice-over by Washington, as Hobbes is talking to the listener. It gave the feel of a more personal impact by the main character. A few things could have been done different to make the plot stronger, especially at the climatic final scene. First, I got the point that Hobbes would have to die a slower death, so Azazel could not jump into his being, but why would Hobbes choose to smoke some doctored up, poisonous cigarettes? Unless Hobbes night lighted as a chemist, how would he know how much poison would have to be in a single cigarette, and how does the average person know how to infuse the poison into the cigarette? The other point was when Azazel dies, since he can’t jump to Hobbes since he’s dying too, why use a stray cat as the next carrier? They are in the woods, in the middle of nowhere, so where did the cat come from? How about a wolf, coyote or a sinister black raven or crow to put some powerful fear into the creature character. If you're going to carry on the devil’s work, a kitty cat wasn't a strong way to go.
