FALLEN (44)

Directed by: Gregory Hoblit

Starring: Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Embeth Davidtz, Donald Sutherland

The Pitch: A serial-killer's demonic spirit lives on after his execution, moving from one human "host" to another and wreaking revenge on the cop who arrested him, Detective John Hobbes.

Theo Sez: Interesting to see this in conjunction with Washington's previous film, the aggressively religious PREACHER'S WIFE : it's another tale of a lapsed Christian recovering his faith, albeit cloaked this time in the downbeat pre-millennial colours made fashionable by SE7EN and "The X-Files" - and, like the latter, it mixes the paranormal with a dash of paranoia, making it clear that you Can't Trust Anyone and even trying for a half-hearted conspiracy theory (though there's no very clear reason why our hero's superiors should want to cover up his findings). Anyone not tipped off by the protagonist's surname probably deserves the scene where the film spells out its philosophical pretensions - "What's the point of Life?" - though the attempted seriousness actually backfires long before the end : this kind of material can still work given the sensationalistic, fire-and-brimstone charge of THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE, but the jaded, pessimistic approach attempted here, all grainy images and funereal music, only points up how hollow the film is, what a gap there yawns between its sleek surface and crude comic-book content. It has its moments (mostly in the build-up), but it really is a remarkably silly movie, featuring a plot that makes no sense, a couple of howlers in the dialogue ("Can I ask you something personal?" "Everything's personal if you're a person") and some fairly risible detail (did no-one realise how hilarious it looks when a streetful of people form an improvised conga-line, as the demon flits from person to person?), not to mention a voice-over with a knack for stating the blindingly obvious. "Do you believe in God?" our hero is asked by a mysterious young woman. "Why did she ask me if I believe in God?" wonders the voice-over ; "What was that all about?". Actually, an audience might respond, we were hoping you could tell us.