One of my all time favorites.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

"The Fallen Ones" is a pretty good cheese-fest that really only has a couple flaws.**SPOILERS**In the Arizona Desert, archaeologist Matt Fletcher, (Casper Van Dien) and his friend Gus Ferguson, (Geoffrey Lewis) find remains of a ritual burial site after several thousand years. Searching a burial spot nearby, he finds a mummy in the ground and Angela, (Kristen Miller) a fellow worker on the site, grows concerned that it might interfere with their business. Digging more at the site, they find the mummy is over forty feet long and buried in an Egyptian manner. Growing more concerned, the staff at the site starts disappearing making owner Morton, (Robert Wagner) and investor Ammon, (Navid Negahban) feel that the discovery could upset the build of a new casino. As it gradually becomes apparent that one of the members of the site's staff is in conjunction with the resurrection of the mummy, (Robert Allen Mukes) which is a son of a God, by a small sect of followers that want it brought back, and race to stop it from happening.The Good News: This wasn't all that bad when it really wanted to be. One of it's best features is that it manages to incorporate several new ideas into this type of genre. There's a regular amount of the clichés found in this style of film, yet there's also some features that are new to this one. There's a giant animated effigy of the creature that pops up in the film, the mummy's a giant monstrosity and there's a series of small fist-fights that really don't belong with this type of film. This amounts to a real large amount of action in the film that manages to really make it watchable. The several fights are pretty fantastic, including one that takes place in the background of another scene that don't know about it. That in itself is a hilarious visual, and it's done wonderfully. The last half hour, where the giant mummy is unleashed and goes on a rampage, is it's most action-packed and entertaining segment that includes a rather unusual car chase, several more fist-fights and it's most intense scene, a massive flood that really works on a lot of levels. The idea of doing so is handled well, the visuals are perfect, and the premature detonation gives some potential suspense in the race to get out alive. This is also one of the few films to positively benefit from having a cheesy atmosphere, as this one can't in all circumstances be considered anything other than cheese, and it reveals in it and works to its advantage more often than it should. The resurrected mummy itself is also a pretty impressive site, towering over everything and allowing it's huge size to generate most of it's shocks. There's enough bandage and rotten features to make it seem like it's been dead for ages, and it even manages to work in one of the most clever scenes ever in the prologue to explain it's motive for rampaging later on. This is hardly ever done, and that it was done was a really pleasant surprise. The last big surprise was the single sequence where the villain's plans were unveiled to the one who had figured it out. There's a lot to love about it, and it's a surprising one to be included in the film. These here lift the film up a lot.The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot here that didn't really work. The biggest issue is that the CGI effects in here are pretty bad. There's really very few scenes where they even look the closest side of believable, and that they all come in during the big effects scenes at the end manages to take a lot of the luster out of them. Even going so far as to animate an entire confrontation between two figures that shouldn't have been in that manner to begin with. Add in the fact that there's a large amount of the action scenes done with CGI and it simply makes it feel fake as it never feels like it's happening together. It's a problem with all these types of films, and this one is no exception. The high cheese-quotient might also be a hindrance to some, as it's impossible to take seriously with all that's going on in the film with giant mummies being resurrected and incorporating fallen angels and biblical prophecies into the mix along with giant robot effigies, and this becomes a real fight for some. The last big problem is that this simply feels like a low-budget hodgepodge of several other films combined together, and then rips them off fairly accurately. They're easy to spot, so they won't be revealed here, but there's a lot of them on hand, allowing for yet another disadvantage.The Final Verdict: This is a pretty entertaining cheese-fest that manages to work in that favor rather than being a handicap. Worth a look for those who enjoy these turn-your-brain-off-and-enjoy films or want to see a few new spins on the mummy genre, while those that don't like the cheesy films should exercise caution.Rated R: Violence and Language

The Fallen Ones starts with archaeologist Matt Fletcher (Casper Van Dien) in the desert discovering the mummified remains of a 42 foot tall giant, now there's something you don't see everyday. Matt is working for property developer Morton (Robert Wagner) who wants to build a holiday resort on the land & he calls in fellow archaeologist Angela (Kristen Miller) for reasons I'm unsure of. Anyway they both try to figure out what they've got on they're hands when some of the team go missing, Morton calls in security guy Ammon (Navid Negahban) to handle the situation. Meanwhile ancient text translator the Rabbi Eli Schmidtt (Tom Bosley) translates some ancient text (as he would) & is shocked to learn of a evil prophecy in which these giants will rise up & take over the world for the Fallen One, or something like that. It's up to Matt to save the day & the whole planet...Written & directed by Kevin VanHook, who also has a small role in the film as the ancient warrior leader at the start, I personally thought The Fallen Ones was a terrible film & it's as simple & straight forward as that. There are so many things that are just plain bad about The Fallen Ones both on a technical & conceptual level, the script doesn't make a whole lot of sense & it doesn't really get going until the final 20 odd minutes by which time I had almost lost the will to live. The character's are awful & as clichéd as you like, the dialogue is bad as in very, very bad & the entire film is predictable, I mean it's not going to come as a surprise that Casper Van Dien is going to save the day is it? It's not a huge surprise that the mummified giant is going to come back to life either so why wait until over an hour into the film when most of the audience will be in some sort of comatose state. This is bad, very bad. You have been warned.Director VanHook doesn't impress, the fight scenes are absolutely awful & why dress your bad guys up in a horrible shade of purple? They look naff. To give it a bit of credit the special effects on the giant Mummy itself are actually good although there's not that many of them since he doesn't make an appearance for over an hour, there are also some normal sized Mummy's that look to have come straight from the set of The Mummy (1999), unfortunately these aren't used to any great effect & in fact are wasted as some comic relief. The mechanical Mummy was a pretty good idea but looked silly & there is no way on Earth that all those people inside could work in sync with each other to operate it, actually the more I think about the more ridiculous the idea is. Forget about any scares, tension or atmosphere & don't even think about any gore or violence because there isn't any.Technically The Fallen Ones isn't anything special & apart from the impressive giant Mummy effects there's little her to get excited about. The ghost CGI & water effects are terrible, it was made-for-TV & it's shows. The acting was poor, Wagner looks embarrassed & this is probably the only thing the likes of Dien & Bosley can get these days.The Fallen Ones is a bad film, there's no two ways about it as far as I'm concerned. Not recommended on any level or in any way, one to avoid.

Mr. VanHook took a good idea and kicked like a football. Unfortunately, it didn't make the goal. The historical subject of giants is a good one, but pour in the goon milk and you end up with a giant wheel of cheese. I say, take this reel wheel and roll it off a cliff. I couldn't even watch the entire film. That says a lot because I rarely walk away from any movie. I always like to give them a chance for last-minute redemption. It's impossible to redeem something this bad. Well, at least the acting was good....NOT! The only thing "falling" in this film is the rating. 1/10 and sinking into the negative numbers!

I generally avoid anything this guy is in. He is the new Lorenzo LLamas as far as acting and the quality of the films he appears in goes. He was not completely laughable in this picture however, which is high praise compared to my estimation of his other work. Hopefully he will continue to get better. I haven't checked, but I get the feeling that he started out in soap operas and never really graduated beyond that level. He tends to do a lot of intense looks and pauses that generally mean the actor is searching for the next line.This was better than average for a VanDien vehicle. If there is nothing else in the video store you haven't seen and you've seen all of the movies you like more than once, this would not be the worst choice for a rental. Let me stop before all of this praise seems maudlin.