Fallen: The Search of a Broken Angel

‘Fallen: The Search of a Broken Angel’ gives the impression of a film about spiritual redemption, perhaps a profound character study of a broken soul, or maybe a mystic fantasy story, high on action, heroes, and villains. This is far from the case. Instead, ‘Fallen’ is a meandering, largely plotless film, with a woefully constructed thin story thread, and even worse technical aspects.

The film begins with a soundscape similar to that of Hans Zimmer’s sumptuous score for Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’, and a tarred monologue about dreams, and their importance, further paralleling Frank Herbert’s novel and its film adaptations. However, that is where the sense of grandeur, and solid fantasy plot of ‘Fallen: The Search of a Broken Angel’ comes to an end. What follows is an exercise in substandard filmmaking, and an even greater exercise to have to watch.

Almost immediately the story becomes impossibly difficult to follow, with the IMDB synopsis only confusing matters further, as we follow Sam Ares (Christalo Castro) and his relationships with a series of women as he encounters the archangel Lucifer within himself. It makes even less sense written in words than when on screen, in which it is far, far too overcomplicated by numerous inane and obvious plot lines which ultimately lead nowhere, and a host of Chekhov’s guns that remain unexplainably holstered.

Naturally this stems from an abject screenplay, which, in addition to failing to tell a cohesive narrative, fails to develop its characters, or create interesting, believable scenarios and dialogue. Alex Kruz’s screenplay leans too heavily on well-established tropes, whilst letting down its actors entirely, as they deliver robotic monologues and painfully dull conversations. Such stilted dialogue isn’t purely to the fault of Kruz’s writing, with the flat performance of Castro in the central role failing to carry the scene. This lack of charisma is shared by all supporting performers, who similarly suffer from an absence of guile or charm to make the film the slightest bit more interesting.

Whilst these things are lacklustre, they aren’t outright jarring, unlike many of the films other technical aspects. From Alex Kruz’s direction, which is flaky and unfocused, relying too heavily on cuts, which become irritating within minutes, and the most dreadful sound mixing in order to create any semblance of dramatic tension. The sound mixing is remarkably bad, dipping in and out, lacking any ambience, and coming across as lazy - at one point you can hear the microphone being breathed on during a stereotypical country song. This is accompanied by the films biggest technical sins, the failure to correctly dub the voices to the movement of characters mouths, with the two out of sync throughout in jarring, though sometimes hysterical, fashion.

‘Fallen: The Search of a Broken Angel’ may be extremely difficult to watch, but it sure beats being a woman in this film. Women are portrayed as adulterous, depraved, greedy, and almost wholly reliant on men throughout, with each woman lying down for Sam, who is, in all honesty, a bit of a bum, as though he were Chris Evans. Additionally, the depiction of women as lying and manipulative channels the sentiment of the misogynistic incel community on the internet, playing to a certain crowd whose values and beliefs damage any semblance of equality in society today.

That speaks to the level of ‘Fallen: The Search of a Broken Angel’, a title that makes as little sense as the story it portrays. Its a title, and a film, which lacks a sharpness or any finesse, and is instead bloated by poor filmmaking, concerning themes, and an overall sour taste.