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A transitory evil spirit (or "fallen angel") plays cat-and-mouse with police detective Denzel Washington, who is so cool-headed and amiable that this taunting, easily-transferable demon barely seems to ruffle his good nature. Occasionally gripping but only satisfactory police drama-*-occult thriller opens with a heavy-handed introductory sequence to the players (fellow detective James Gandolfini behaves like a pushy ass in a bar, requiring Denzel to give a soap-box speech on the privileged nature of policemen). The religious angle is half-hearted, at best, while the plot minutiae is sometimes overheated (as with Washington's narration, which verges on camp: "In the night...sometimes you run into yourself" or "That question about God...what the hell did that mean?"). The scenario is so muddled it's tough to discern what city the picture takes place in. It has flashes of film-noir, but it isn't respectful to its own characters. Not uninteresting, but scattershot with a poor finish. ** from ****

This is one of those films which gets a fair amount of publicity on cinematic release, but afterwards is never heard from again. I suppose the main reason is that there isn't much here that we haven't seen before. The concept of a demon passing from one person to another is fresh, but the execution is bland and dull. Very hard to engage the mind at first, once it grips it soon loses its way following on from one `it-wasn't-me' event to the next. Shot in an eerie manner, it nonetheless doesn't utilise all of the potential it has and the overall effect is deadening. Creepy, but shallow underneath the surface. The direction is tense and deeply atmospheric but the script is lacklustre- a throwback of bits and pieces of other horror movies combined with the average clichés. The outcome is a neat idea in search of a smart script to boot. What's interesting is the fact that each cast member gets their chance to play a particular character- Azazel. And with all this star-power on show, they do a good job of playing `the demon' along with the given characters. Charismatic leading man Denzel Washington is suitably cast as the protagonist and proves to have range, doing these simple roles and the tougher ones with equal va-va-voom. John Goodman is okay but greatly underused while the same applies to James Gandalfini who plays almost the exact same character. Donald Sutherland doesn't prove to have any range, doing the usual gruff routine that he does in nearly all of his movies. Embeth Davidtz is a talented and totally under-rated actress. She delivers a good performance and shows great potential for the future. I could go on for a while about all the flaws of the film but there isn't much point. Far from the worst of its type, the only major problem is the fact that it is so unrewarding. It promises big and strongly requests that you stick with it to the end, but you'll be left wondering why they make evil seem like such a good thing. The outlook keeps getting gloomier and gloomier until there is absolutely no hope of revival. Overall- not disastrous, but very little to recommend here. If you want a supernatural chiller, its worth consideration, but you should try `What Lies Beneath' or `The Sixth Sense' instead. My IMDb rating is just a 4.9/10.

The first time I saw this movie, I had major problems figuring out what was going on. It was especially difficult in the first part of the movie, with several scenes that didn't make any sense at all. Because of this, I thought the movie sucked big time. Then, I decided to give this film a second chance. Some of the scenes that didn't make any sense before now did, but it's too bad that you have to watch a movie twice to get the whole picture. Anyway, I really didn't like the direction the movie took. At first, it could be an OK thriller, but with all this supernatural stuff it just got dumb. And about the ending: I can understand why some people think it's so great, but in my opinion it's not very good. In fact, I got really disappointed. Sorry.

Came across this film in a video store sale bin at a giveaway price and bought it on the strength of the cast, Denzil Washington, John Goodman, Donald Sutherland and Embeth Davidtz. Found it to be surprisingly good. Not a horror film as such, no gore or unconvincing CGI effects but a gripping story with supernatural elements. There are subtle shivers, particularly the 'touching' scenes and the sense of something evil hidden behind the everyday. The setting is bleakly autumnal and it is finishes with a nice twist. If you watch the film again knowing the ending it makes more sense. Of the acting, Goodman and Sutherland don't have much to play with but it is always good to see them in a film. Washington is very good as his normal cop character grapples with the mystery and Davidtz is excellent as the academic, scared and solitary and fallible. The scenes between Washington and Davidtz are well played. Tan Dun's music adds to the atmosphere. Well directed and well written. Well done.

Despite a very good cast (Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Donald Sutherland, Elias Koteas), the premise of a demon (Azazel) released from the dying body of an executed murderer possessing others (like "the gift that just keeps on giving") is truly far-fetched here. I don't care what nifty music you add to a soundtrack; it doesn't heft up the lack of originality evidenced in this story. It is just too derivative from other, far superior, movies -- like "The Exorcist", perhaps, to name just one. And the ending is a major disappointment. It seemed to me like just a waste of my good time, and some fine talents. Boo! Yeah, very scary! Rent something else instead.

Are we supposed to believe that Denzel just reaches his hand up in the middle of the room and finds that book atop the beam?-- from that moment on the movie (certainly not a film) was torture to sit through. Time being on your side may be a main point of emphasis in Fallen, but time isn't on your side when you have to sit through this. Yuck!

I'd have given this film four stars if not for the fact that it's the exact same movie as THE FIRST POWER, which was exactly the same as SHOCKER, which was very similar to THE HORROR SHOW, which copied a lot from THE HIDDEN. If you haven't seen these, you're probably among those who have praised FALLEN. And if you haven't seen FALLEN, check one of those underappreciated films out instead.

This was actually a pretty clever supernatural thriller. When released it failed at the box office, but has deveolped a following since. It's quite fascinating, hardly ever boring, has a nice cast, and is pretty creepy. It probubly failed due to poor marketing, because if a piece of crapp like "Hollow Man"(2000) can be a hit, this film should definately have been a hit. If you like supernatural thrillers, this will be right up your alley. *** out of ****.