DVD Review: Gabriel

Writers: Shane Abbess, Matt Hylton Todd
Directors: Shane Abbess
Cast:Andy Whitfield, Dwaine Stevenson, Samantha Noble, Erika Heynatz, Michael Piccirilli, Harry Pavlidis, Jack Campbell, Kevin Copeland, Brendan Clearkin
Rating: R
Studio: Sony Pictures
strong>Release Date: February 19, 2008

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this otherworldly, action-packed flick. The style of filmmaking looked interesting in the whole 300 kind of way. Still, I wasn’t sure if I would end up liking the battle of good and evil when the heavenly angels took on the demons of hell. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Gabriel. I can already see the scathing reviews because this is an action film. For some reason, many reviewers have it down on the genre. I’m not sure why, but I found this film quite enjoyable.

With an excellent cast of virtual unknowns taking on the roles of the characters, many of whom you heard about in CCD or other religious classes (if you grew up like me) in a way that is surprisingly more entertaining than when Sister Eleanor spoke about them, I was pumped within the first twenty minutes of the story. Sure, Gabriel is the central character, but there are others, Raphael and Michael to name two, who make it pointedly clear. These aren’t your priest’s archangels.

Release Information:
Gabriel was filmed in Australia. It premiered in Sydney on November 7, 2007 and was released across the rest of the country. Gabriel never had a theatrical release in the U.S. or Canada though there were rumors it would happen in January of 2008. Critics, as a whole, had mixed reviews, as is to be expected of this type of movie.

On February 19, 2008, Sony Pictures released Gabriel on DVD in North America. This is the first, official U.S. release for the film. Gabriel can be purchased at nationwide retailers or you can pick it up at an online store like Amazon, where is available for just under $20.

The Gabriel Plot
The story for Gabriel gets started slowly, but it quickly picks up and starts to become interesting. In purgatory, the Archangels and the Fallen (from you know where) fight for control. This has happened since the beginning of time as the two opposing sides fight to take charge of the souls in purgatory. Seven warriors from each side have been sent down (or up) to purgatory. The warriors are sent at different times to fight one another for control. When the last of the Archangels, Gabriel (Andy Whitfield), is sent to purgatory, not only must he find out what happened to the rest of the Archangels, he must also deal with the fact that the Fallen have control.

In order to enter purgatory the warriors assume human form. They still have subhuman like powers and abilities, but this also means they can die and must experience human emotions. Gabriel enters purgatory and heads to an apartment where the Archangel, Michael, has lived. He finds that it has been abandoned and there are no signs of where Michael is or where he could have gone. In the meantime, four of the Fallen Sammael (Dwaine Stevenson), Asmodeus (Michael Piccirilli), Balan (Brendan Clearkin), and Baliel (Valentino del Toro) have gathered together. Baliel is killed by Sammael, who appears to be the head of the Fallen. It is discovered that Baliel is less than okay with this fact and therefore he must be destroyed. There are now six of the Fallen left in purgatory and only 1 Archangel that we know of, and that is Gabriel.

Gabriel is able to sense that Uriel (Harry Pavlidis), another Archangel, is somewhere in the city. He finds him drunk and in an abandoned bus where he is hiding. Uriel explains to Gabriel that he must conceal the use of his powers and glowing blue eyes. Otherwise, the Fallen can sense him. He teaches Gabriel how to conceal himself, but it is too late. Having used his powers to find Uriel, Sammael realizes that Gabriel has entered purgatory so he sends Malloch (Goran D. Kleut) to kill him. Malloch has already been killed by Gabriel, by the time he meets Uriel, but he now understands how Malloch found him.

Gabriel is interested in finding out what happened to the other Archangels. He presses Uriel who tells him that Ramiel was killed before Uriel arrived. Sammael defeated Amitiel (Samantha Noble). As a result, she now works as a prostitute and was stripped of her wings. Amitiel now goes by the name of Jade. The other three Uriel has no clue about. The remaining Archangels are Ithuriel (Matt Hylton Todd), Raphael (Jack Campbell) and Michael. It is believed that Sammael also killed Michael though no one is certain of that.

Gabriel goes to find Amitiel at a brothel run by Asmodeus (Michael Piccirilli). He ends up finding her with Balan, who plans to rape her. Gabriel kills Balan and saves Amitiel. They end up at a soup kitchen where they find Ithuriel working. He knows of the whereabouts of Raphael and Gabriel is able to meet up with both of them. Gabriel decides he is going to kill all the Fallen and Sammael, but since Michael has been killed and he is believed to be stronger than Gabriel, Raphael sees it as a death mission.

The acting, for the most part, is good. Whitfield, a virtual nobody, gives the strongest performance. He’s the type of protagonist you can feel for and come to care about. The other characters support Whitfield well though there are touches of overdramatic moments that fall more on the direction of the actors and the writing that drives the story. While, this movie was enjoyable and I look forward to watching it again, it took me a moment to get into it. I didn’t feel like I was going to enjoy the movie when I was watching it at the beginning. However, I ended up being more entertained by Gabriel then I thought I could be.

For the small budget it was made on and the cast of unknowns who starred in the movie Gabriel is a surprising breath of fresh air in a genre that’s relied on the same old action actors to carry the plots of substandard movies. Gabriel may not be an Oscar contender, but it is certainly worth watching at least once. Gabriel is the first movie (and feature film directorial debut by Shane Abbess) in a proposed trilogy. I look forward to what Abbess plans to do with the second and third films in this series.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
The visuals needed to be strong on Gabriel merely because of the way Purgatory was displayed. The effects actually came out looking pretty cool and it gave Gabriel the same kind of look/feel I saw when watching 300. The anamorphic widescreen quality is presented at a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Everything comes through amazingly clean and the trippy, dark visual look adds to the ambiance of the film. For the film’s budget, I was impressed.

The sound quality for Gabriel is decent. It’s a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix. While the score comes through and has a dark tone to it, the volume initially sounds low. Once you turn it up, there is no need to volume toggle. Still, it would be nice to start with sound that is on level at the beginning. Closed Captioning is available on the English track. There is also a second track, in French. It is in Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Subtitles are available in English and French.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
There are actually some decent bonus features on the Gabriel DVD. The first bonus feature is deleted scenes. There are three, decent-sized featurettes on this DVD. The first shows the pre-production of the movie. It’s called “Gabriel: Genesis A Pre Production Featurette”. The second is a look at all the issues the crew and cast faced when making Gabriel. This featurette is called “Gabriel: Battlefront – The Challeges of Shooting Gabriel Featurette”.

Finally, there is a feature that focuses on the visual effects, sound and the interesting score for the movie. This featurette is called “Gabriel: Evolution – Visual Effects, Sound Design and Scoring Featurette”. In all, you’ll get close to a half hour of featurette footage. While there could be more bonuses and additional features would be nice, what is here is comprehensive enough to please fans of this movie.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
Gabriel is a dark look at good vs. evil. It doesn’t really mention heaven or hell directly nor does it subscribe to a certain ideology so people of varying religions can enjoy the story. While not everyone is going to love this movie, it is a fast-paced action flick that keeps the story rolling with excellent acting by the title character. If you’re looking for something to watch during a date night, a night spent with the guys, or a quiet night watching movies, check this out by renting it first. Fans should purchase this DVD. With the decent visual quality and abundance of bonuses, the DVD is worth the money you’ll pay for it.

Overall Rating: Overall Rating:

Technorati Tags: Gabriel, Sony Pictures, DVD Review, Shane Abbess, Andy Whitfield, Dwaine Stevenson, Samantha Noble, Other World, Drama

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Written by Dominick - Visit Website
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Dominick Evans is in his late 20's. He spends his days working as a full time writer/editor and a part time musician/composer. His passions in life include music, directing films, watching movies, reading books, watching sports, wheelchair football, politics and spending time with his family (fiancée Ashtyn, son Robert, and shih-tzu Oliver). Other interests include being an advocate for the disability and GLBT communities.