In Fallen, serial killer Edgar Reese, Elias Koteas, faces the gas chamber thanks to the tenacity of John Hobbes, Denzel Washington, the cop who trapped him. Before his execution, the deranged Reese clutches Hobbes` hand and mutters something in a strange language. Fallen, written by Nicholas Kazan, is a supernatural thriller with a clever initial concept: the embodiment of evil - the devil if you like - can enter the body of any living creature and immediately dominate it - and can pass from one body to another in an instant, usually by a touch. Reese`s death is only the start of a new murder rampage, in which Hobbes is not only a potential victim, but a suspect. For about half its length, Gregory Hoblit`s second feature - after Primal Fear - is genuinely exciting and intriguing, and there are a couple of dynamic sequences illustrating the way the evil force passes from person to person. But in the end the film`s too clever for its own good; it becomes both improbable and predictable. There`s a strong supporting cast, including John Goodman and Donald Sutherland as police officers and Embeth Davidtz, as a theologian with some solutions to the mystery Fallen is at times dazzlingly well made, but in the end, sadly, fails to deliver.
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