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Fallen
Denzel Washington
plays a police detective, working alongside such greats as
John Goodman [Now and Again], Donald Sutherland [
Don't Look Now
] and James Gandolfi [The Sopranos].
The female lead [she's not the love interest, perhaps because she's white]
resembles
Alyssa Milano
- which is confusing because her character's name is Miss Milano too!
The problem with this film is, quite simply, it does not put us precisely in the head of Washington's character. Great detective films like Se7en do not show us, for example, Kevin Spacey rubbing his hands with glee at the prospect of more slayings. Angel Heart maintains tension until the end. However, this film [like the advertising for The Truman Show] gives away the game to the audience before the hero knows what's happening. The scenes where he works out whet he is up against would have been a LOT more powerful, considering that they are actually quite good anyway!
The film's saving graces? Well, there's a good cast but it's mostly wasted. Goodman's better as a cop here than he was in the two 1980s erotic thrillers that starred Ellen Barkin. Gandolfi is good, as ever, but perhaps underused. Plotwise, the twist in the tale is good but not great.
Stir Of Echoes
Kevin Bacon [
Tremors
] plays a man with a wife and young son.
At a party he gets hypnotised by his sister-in-law, Illeana Douglas,
and afterwards he starts to see strange visions of a missing girl. As with
What Lies Beneath
, a straightforward supernatural story turns into a predictable whodunnit.
There are also shades of
Sixth Sense
, because his young son can see ghosts too.
SF fans will notice that the landlord is played by Conor O'Farrell from Dark Skies .