Fallen

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Gregory Hoblit directs. Newton Thomas Sigel behind the camera. Tan Dun scores. Lawrence Jordan cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Dutch.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Earned back only 55% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
• 228 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
• 3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Dutch.
• 4Directed by Gregory Hoblit, shot by Newton Thomas Sigel. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by Tan Dun. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Lawrence Jordan shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Denzel Washington and John Goodman and Donald Sutherland carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "Detective John Hobbes is searching for a criminal he's already met... already caught... and already killed.".
• 9IMDB entry: tt0119099 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 10Classified under 17 themes, including "police", "angel", "psychopath", "riddle".

The technical file

Cinematography

Newton Thomas Sigel

Original score

Tan Dun

Editing

Lawrence Jordan

Production design

Terence Marsh

Costume design

Colleen Atwood

Makeup / hair

Kenneth Walker

VFX supervisor

Kent Houston

Sound

Lance Brown

Stunt coordinator

Phil Neilson

Runtime

124 min · 2h 4m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$46,000,000

Box office

$25,232,289

Return

55% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

Fallen (1998) ↗

Also by

Gregory Hoblit

• 
  The Americans

  2013 · ★ 7.9
• 
  Primal Fear

  1996 · ★ 7.7
• 
  Hill Street Blues

  1981 · ★ 7.6
• 
  Bay City Blues

  1983 · ★ 7.5
• 
  The Strain

  2014 · ★ 7.5
• 
  Frequency

  2000 · ★ 7.3

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Confronting The Demon Azrael

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Original Theatrical Trailer

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• CinemaSerf2022-07-06
  ★ 7/10

  I must have watched this film three or four times now, and each time it takes me the first half hour to recall. It's an intriguing story rooted in Aramaic mythology but applied to 20th century Philadelphia. "Hobbes" (Denzel Washington) is a detective who worked on the case of serial killer "Edgar Reese" that saw him captured and executed. Not long after this supposed closure, however, other - very similar - crimes start to occur and he and his partner "Jonesy" (John Goodman) are perplexed. He keeps hearing a song - the same song the deceased sang as he died, but the people singing it are different. There is something mysterious afoot that can inhabit a body, move effortlessly and invisibly from one to another - and it seems to have "Hobbes" in it's sights. Desperate to shield his family from this evil, he must try to find a way to destroy it before it destroys him. It all takes too long to get going, and Goodman is not particularly well cast, but once we have the gist of the plot then Washington and director Gregory Hoblit turn in quite a well put together story, using the photography well to give us a perspective from our menace whilst effectively conveying the sense of nimble mobility this creature possesses as the resourceful "Hobbes" tries to combat it. Donald Sutherland pops up now and again, to no real purpose, indeed much of the supporting cast sort of blend into the wallpaper of this exercise that really plays to the strengths of an on-form Washington delivering a solid and interesting theme. It's too long, but still worth watching.

  Read full review ↓
• GenerationofSwine2024-11-02
  ★ 10/10

  I generally have a distaste for movies where Denzel plays the smart cop/government agent/detective because he does it far too often, he seems to be typecast, and it's a waste of pro talent. He's above playing the same sort of role over and over again. But this is one of the exceptions. He does an excellent job, but despite this, it's not Washington you remember. You remember Elias Koteas and he's only in the film for a few short minutes. It's remarkable that in a Denzel Washington movie, someone else steals the most memorable role, and it's even more rare that the role you remember has nearly the least amount of screen time. So... it's already off to a good start, or at least a memorable one. Those are two things that tend not to happen. But then you have a William Holden noir style character monologue that is actually done right and adds more to the story's atmosphere than it really should. You have a spooky plot, and on top of that you have some extremely well done and downright spooky scenes. From start to finish it's just a well executed movie, a well acted movie, and one that deserves to be remembered a bit more than it is. It's one of the movies that I always recommend to people.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Turner Pictures

  US

• 

  Atlas Entertainment

  US

Key crew

• ProducerCharles Roven
• ProducerDawn Steel
• Costume DesignColleen Atwood
• EditorLawrence Jordan
• CastingDavid Rubin
• Production DesignTerence Marsh
• Art DirectionWilliam Cruse
• Set DecorationMichael Seirton
• HairstylistKenneth Walker
• HairstylistPeggy Schierholz
• HairstylistLarry M. Cherry
• Makeup ArtistEdna Sheen
• Makeup ArtistRené Dashiell Kerby
• Makeup ArtistRebecca Alling
• Makeup EffectsRebecca DeHerrera
• Construction CoordinatorSebastian Milito
• GreensmanTim Weston
• LeadmanChristopher Neely
• Set DesignerRon Yates
• Sound DesignerLance Brown
• Sound Re-Recording MixerMichael Herbick
• Sound Re-Recording MixerRobert J. Litt
• Sound Re-Recording MixerElliot Tyson
• Supervising Sound EditorBruce Fortune

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• police
• angel
• psychopath
• riddle
• detective
• supernatural
• bible
• murder
• curse
• serial killer
• religion
• execution
• series of murders
• devil
• family
• evil
• neo-noir

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1998-01-16R

Also known as

International titles

• DämonAT
• DämonDE
• To aggigma tou kakouGR
• PosrnuliRS
• 暂时停止接触CN
• 悪魔を憐れむ歌JP