Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Best movie ever!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

First of all let me say that I was expecting a bad movie because of IMDb's user rating. I saw it mostly because of the main actor, the late Andy Whytfield that made Spartacus too.The story isn't good at all but I think the concept by himself is quite good. Some chosen angels and some chosen fallens fight for control. Indeed quite good. They could use more special effects but the budget was low. The movie was very dark to see (yes I know darkness was supposed to rule, but I didn't liked that).I think that Amitiel/Jade appearance in the movie could be cut off because it wasn't that relevant.The ending wasn't predictable at all and makes us wonder why he did it.Most of the actors are lame but Andy and the guy that does Sammael are very good indeed.

I came to this because it was Australian, a first film and supposedly risky. It has been some time since a young Australian filmmaker has affected me, and I always put then toward the top of the list.This, dear friends is simply some yelling. It is no "Ink."But it got me wondering. Movies are all about satisfying urges. Well, everything is, but the tokens are explicitly here for you to see. But the constraints of the medium and market morph those urges. So what you see is not what you wanted, but what you can get. Over time, you build this dissonance because you live in the world created by constraints.Here is what I mean. We all wonder about how the world works. So we want cosmologies in our art, grand organizing principles. We want to know what the rules are. So we have stories with grand conspiracies, or mythical worlds with an order, usually bad and good. Or even just a guy with super powers or abilities who wins because he is attuned in a world where justice flows.But the medium has only a few human activities that are cinematic. One of these is fighting, especially with guns and knives. If you are making a movie on the cheap, you'll have to forgo the standard fireball explosions, usually with the hero walking away slowly.As a result, we end up with bizarre situations where cosmological forces are shoved into fight movies. This is not the worst example; I saw this with "TMNT," but it is pretty obvious because the movie itself is so unrewarding.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Australian Dark Fantasy-SciFi movie in which Good and Evil fight it out in the sprawling slums of Purgatory for the souls of those awaiting judgment. On the side of the Light is Gabriel. Fighting for Team Darkness is Sammael. Necessity is the mother of invention. Like George Miller with 'Mad Max', Abbess is forced by a minuscule budget to rely on strong storytelling, creative design, and superior performances to craft his movie. And while the results may not have the long lasting influence of Miller's work, they are astonishing. The movie possesses a striking visual richness thanks to the work of a talented designer and cinematographer, and just as Mel Gibson stood out in 'Mad Max', so Andy Whitman stalks through 'Gabriel' with real A-list charisma. The film is not without its faults: while the story is strong, the screenplay itself is structurally sloppy and has some serious pacing issues; head demon, Sammael, looks like the lead singer in a 'Ramones' tribute band; and the rooftop climax is an unapologetic shot-for-shot remake of 'Blade Runner'. The presence of a character with bleach-blond dreadlocks forces the deduction of yet another point. They looked ridiculous in 'Matrix'; they look ridiculous here. Yet despite these misgivings, there is something undeniably infectious about the passion and commitment that everyone brings to the project. Personally, I can't wait for the sequels.

My sister-in-law recommended this movie to my wife and I went into watching it with no idea what it was about other than the brief description found on the back of the Netflix envelope. I was intrigued by the story but have been disappointed before by other films with great ideas and shoddy execution. I found it took a bit for the movie to bring me in, but once it had I thought it was extremely compelling. The way the film makers tackle the concepts of free will, sacrifice, good vs. evil, and what it means to be human with all of its weaknesses is worthy of discussion by cinema aficionados, students, and average fans alike. All of this is excellently delivered in a very character driven plot rather than the more common rapid fire ride from one fight/action scene to the next that glosses over the real issues with which these people are truly struggling. I could tell that the film was made on a small scale budget, but I had no idea how small until I logged into IMDb. Now I have to admit that I am even more impressed with the way the film turned out than before. I also must say that the few negative reviews I have read were unfair in my mind.If you are only interested in large scale, big budget, effects driven movies, then of course there may be little appeal here for you. But if you are like me and wish that there was more substance to go along with the action and effects, than you might find Gabriel to be quite a gem for your collection.