2 out of 5

Director: Gregory Widen

Talk about wasted potential. Prophecy is a huge bag of interesting visual and plot ideas, smashed together by someone who seems to know only half enough about each portion. I don’t know if The Prophecy has a story behind it – studio changes or last minute cuts or something – but it wouldn’t surprise me. Regardless, what emerged was something incredibly uneven, with compelling moments followed immediately by silly, unthought-out moments. There’s a well-shot opening, then there’s a sloppy, senseless scene. Well-shot, then sloppy. And so on. Which is unfortunate, because some interesting things happen, but then it all seems sort of forgotten by the middle of the movie for the sake of getting the players into their proper positions for a final battle. I will give this movie tons of credit for doing something very well: the effects. Movies of this era (and beyond, up to the introduction of CG) get foolish with what they hope to achieve with special effects, producing moments that end up ruining any building suspense. Even the last sequence of the film is done smartly, and never plays its hand as purposefully not showing something or not having the budget to do something differently. I wish I could support this movie more. Walken is crazy, and Viggo would have been creepy… if it wasn’t so random. If it all wasn’t so random. The Prophecy exists as a better movie somewhere between all of the scenes that were included.