''The Prophecy II'' is a 1998 American

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

- horror film and the second installment in ''The Prophecy'' series.

Christopher Walken Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Christopher Walken on stage and screen, His work on stage and screen has earned him List of awards and nominations received by Christopher Walken, accolades includin ...

reprises his role as the

Archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the Catholic hierarchy of angels, based on and put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book ''De Coelesti Hierarchia'' (''On the Celestial Hierarchy'') ...

Gabriel In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

. It was directed by Greg Spence and written by Spence and Matt Greenberg.

Plot

Lucifer The most common meaning for Lucifer in English is as a name for the Devil in Christian theology. He appeared in the King James Version of the Bible in Isaiah and before that in the Vulgate (the late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bib ...

(Guri Weinberg) ejects

from Hell, claiming the War of Heaven isn't his to fight and Hell isn't big enough for both of them. Gabriel's new mission is to prevent the birth of a child, a

nephilim The Nephilim (; ''Nəfīlīm'') are mysterious beings or humans in the Bible traditionally understood as being of great size and strength, or alternatively beings of great power and authority. The origins of the Nephilim are disputed. Some, ...

, the offspring of an angel and a human. The coming of this child, said to precede reconciliation between the warring factions in heaven, has been prophesied by Thomas Daggett, now a monk. The child's conception takes place when Valerie, a nurse, is seduced by an attractive stranger (the

angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

Danyael) whom she hit with her car. She finds a few days later that she is pregnant. Gabriel attempts to find the whereabouts of the child from Daggett, but kills him when he refuses to help. When Danyael kills members of Gabriel's army of angels, Gabriel instead employs the assistance of a teenage girl (Izzy) who has just committed suicide with her boyfriend. Gabriel keeps her alive to help him in his search for Valerie (despite his powers as an angel, he is completely naive about technology, and is unable to drive a car or work a computer and has her use her computer skills to find her and drive him around). Gabriel's war against Danyael and the other angels climaxes in a battle in Eden, now an industrial wasteland. Danyael and Izzy are killed, but Valerie defeats Gabriel by seizing him and jumping from a building, confident that God will protect her as He told her He would (she reveals that Gabriel is unable to hear His voice as he simply does not ''listen''); she is indeed unharmed, but Gabriel is impaled on a spike. As punishment, Gabriel is turned into a human by

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...

. Valerie raises the child by herself, accepting the risk that the angels may come for her. The film ends with Gabriel as a derelict; a face in the sky and ominous clouds show that the war in Heaven is not over.

Cast

* Russell Wong as Danyael *

Jennifer Beals Jennifer Beals (born December 19, 1963) is an American actress. She made her film debut in ''My Bodyguard'' (1980), before receiving critical acclaim for her performance as Alexandra Owens in ''Flashdance'' (1983), for which she won NAACP Image ...

as Valerie Rosales *

Brittany Murphy Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack (; November 10, 1977 – December 20, 2009) was an American actress and singer, known for her work in both comedy and drama. Born in Atlanta, Murphy moved to Los Angeles as a teenager to pursue a career in a ...

as Isabelle "Izzy" *

Nicki Micheaux Nicole "Nicki" Micheaux is an American actress, known for her role as Jennifer 'Jenn' Sutton in the ABC Family drama series '' Lincoln Heights'' (2007–2009), for which she received two NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series ...

as Detective Kriebel *

Eric Roberts Eric Anthony Roberts (born April 18, 1956) is an American actor. He has amassed more than 700 film and television credits since his debut in 1978, making him one of the most prolific English-speaking screen actors of all time. Roberts' career ...

Glenn Danzig Glenn Allen Anzalone (born June 23, 1955), better known by his stage name Glenn Danzig, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actor, film director and record producer. He is the founder of the rock bands Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig. He ...

as Samayel * Steve Hytner as Joseph * Bruce Abbott as Thomas Daggett * William Prael as Rafayel * Renee Victor as Lida Rosales * Elizabeth Dennehy as Dr. Kathy Kimball *

Danny Strong Danny Strong (born ) is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. As an actor, Strong is best known for his roles as Jonathan Levinson in ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', Doyle McMaster in ''Gilmore Girls'' and Danny Siegel in '' Mad ...

as Julian * J. G. Hertzler as Father William * Michael Raimi as Danyael, Jr.

Production

Following his time directing and co-writing '' Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering'',

Miramax Miramax, LLC, formerly known as Miramax Films, is an American independent film and television production and distribution company owned by beIN Media Group and Paramount Global. Based in Los Angeles, California, it was founded on December 19, ...

executives offered Greg Spence ''The Prophecy II'' as a follow-up after being impressed with ''Children of the Corn IV''s rough cut which Spence accepted. Spence wrote the film alongside Matt Greenberg with little interference from Miramax with the only real mandates being the return of

and the introduction of the

. Spence said that his intention with the sequel was to further develop the mythology established in the first film while also making the film more genre driven with more scares as well as incorporating some fish out of water type humor with Walken's Gabriel.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, a

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

, reports that 33% of six surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 4.7/10. In 1998, the ''

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films is an American non-profit organization established in 1972 dedicated to the advancement of science fiction, fantasy, and Horror fiction, horror in film, television, and home video. The Aca ...

'' rated the film as "The Year's Most Suspenseful Thriller", and ''

Cinefantastique ''Cinefantastique'' is an American horror, fantasy, and science fiction film magazine. History The magazine originally started as a mimeographed fanzine in 1967, then relaunched as a glossy, offset printed quarterly in 1970 by publisher/ ed ...

'' praised the film for being "Intense…Action Packed! Walken Steals the Show!" ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' rated it 1/5 stars and called it "a dull and cheap-looking direct-to-video sequel".

Nathan Rabin Nathan Rabin () is an American film and music critic. Rabin was the first head writer for ''The A.V. Club'', a position he held until he left the ''Onion'' organization in 2013.

of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

'' wrote: "While at times amusing, and far from unwatchable, ''The Prophecy II''s quirky strengths can't compensate for the fact that it's about as frightening as your average episode of ''Psi Factor''". Robert Sellers of the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

'' rated it 2/5 stars and compared it unfavorably with the original film. Witney Seibold of ''

CraveOnline Mandatory (formerly CraveOnline Media) is a lifestyle website based in Los Angeles with sales offices in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial D ...

'' wrote that the sequel suffers from overfamiliarity and thus becomes "a pretty rote action thriller". Nicholas Sylvain of ''

DVD Verdict DVD Verdict was a judicial-themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. The editor-in-chief was Michael Stailey, who owned the website between 2004 and 2016, and the site employed a large editorial staff of critics, whose revie ...

'' wrote: "If you aren't a Walken fan, then you have my sympathies, because there's not much else here for you".

References

External links