Posted by Gaidin at gaidin.rutgers.edu on October 28, 1999 at 10:02:57:
It was very, very good. The venue I was in sucked, so the sound was muffled, so I missed maybe 10% of the jokes. I'm very pissed off about that. But it was quite entertaining. It's still not my favorite, Amy still has that place, because I'm an athiest, and I just can't connect as fully with the faith message here. Instead, I have to look at it as entertaining sci-fi. Sci-fi with a brain, even though I don't necessarily agree with what that brain is thinking.
Weaknesses: This was a 3 hour movie that had to be cut down to 2:05, and you can see it in places. Specifically, they're talking about going to speak to a cardinal, then there's a cut and they're there, when we had reason to believe they were just somewhere in Pennsylvania or something. Also, I just have to say that it's easy to regain your faith if you see angels flying around in front of you and manifesting out of pure flame.
Strengths: Funny as hell, great silent comedic acting by Smith. The real strength of this for me, though, was the character of the angels, Loki and Bartleby. They're villains, or are they? They're quite fully realized, and very entertaining, the best thing about the movie for me. Nuanced. Multiplicitious. Great shite.
Surprises: Chris Rock's role was a lot more central and vital than I thought it would be. It was a pleasent surprise, though.