‘Angels Fallen’ Review
Stars: Nicola Posener, Caroline Amiguet, Filareta Atanasova, Ivica Dimitrijevic, Scott Anthony Gould, Hailey Hermida, Li Jing, Lee Kholafai, William Legue, Michael Madsen, Eric Roberts, Tommy Nash, Ivy Natalia, Houston Rhines | Written by Amanda Barton | Directed by Ali Zamani
Action/fantasy horror can be very hit or miss. I have to say in general I quite enjoy it as a sub genre. Movies like the Underworld, Resident Evil and Blade franchises or Dracula Untold, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter and The Last Witch Hunter are all pretty entertaining films. Don’t get me wrong, these aren’t ‘great’ movies but when kept at about ninety minutes, they’re an enjoyable and fun watch. So despite its awful title, this is what I expected from Angels Fallen.
It is clearly influenced by the movies mentioned above but does not have anywhere near the budget. A budget that it very much needs to pull off its ideas. We see a group of demon hunters head over to Europe and reunite to take on a new threat (badly CGIed demons mostly). There’s plenty of history and past relationships we get to see glimpses of to make the final scenes at least mean something but it’s unlikely many viewers will care much.
I believe the film-makers here were going for a serious tone but there’s way too many unintentionally hilarious moments. One features an all to brief exorcism that is more like a short gymnastics set in which a demon leaves as soon as it is told too. There’s also a demon doll that ‘attacks’ the lead character. By attack I mean it is thrown at him, he catches it, waves it around his body a bit and then throws it to the floor – Chucky this is not!
The CGI was pretty bad throughout as well. They kind of get away with it when it’s used at a distance for things like fire but when we get close-ups of the demons faces and giant wings appearing from characters backs, it does not look great.
There are times that the fight scenes are the best part of the movie. There’s plenty of them on display and they range from actually quite good to absolutely awful. Which does seem strange but I think it definitely depended on who was involved in the scenes. I was not surprised when I found out Li Jing (who plays Lola) was also a stunt person because who fights were a lot more believable. The final fights in particular were like watching a live-action game of Streetfighter but the fighters being controlled by people who are really bad at the game.
As if to confirm that this isn’t the greatest of movies, it has two cameos by actors who will seemingly appear in any minor role, knowing there name will get on the promotional work. The two are Eric Roberts (who somehow has 570 IMDb credits to his name!) and Michael Madsen. Roberts is okay when he appears at the beginning of the movie while Madsen is himself – has he put in a good performance in anything other than a Tarantino (he’s never that great in them!)? Other acting performances are largely poor and often wooden, the cast aren’t helped by a bad script.
If you’re looking for a bit of action with your horror, there’s many many better movies than Angels Fallen out there.