I have never believed in the existence of a god. While this is a philosophically-motivated decision, I have never believed logically that, given its existence, god has any power over us. Finally, I have always argued that if a god existed, and if god did have power over us, god would be no better than a power-hungry despot like Hitler.
The latter theme was epitomised directly in Stargate, and is represented to some degree in The Prophecy. It is interesting that The Prophecy chooses Christianity to represents this idea, for it was one of the few early Western religions to depict god as good and benevolent. The Prophecy attempts to demolish that myth by asking questions like "Have you ever wondered who God sent if He wanted someone punished or killed to set an example?"
Unfortunately, while The Prophecy's intentions are quite thought-provoking, its execution is pretty lame. The most shocking scene, to me, is the sight of hundreds of impaled angels. Neither the warrior-archangel Gabriel's fire-burning tricks, nor the presence of Lucifer, or even the actions of the darkest soul in the planet are compelling. The story itself is quite decent: when God decided to create man, some of the angels became jealous and decided to be rebels. The leader of this faction is Gabriel (Christopher Walken), and he decides to obtain the soul of the most evil person on Earth in order to win his war. However, Simon (Eric Stolz), manages to beat Gabriel to the punch and transfer the soul to a little girl. The rest of the plot is about how Gabriel moves heaven and earth in order to get the soul from the little girl, who is protected by a failed priest-turned-cop and her teacher. The performances by Stolz and Walken are good, even though the former doesn't get much camera time.
The Prophecy 2 is a bad sequel to a thought-provoking film.
Archangel Gabriel, cast to hell in the first film, returns to earth to make sure God continues to love angels and goes about trying to kill the unborn offspring of a angel-human mating (a Nephalim). The only thing going for the movie is that there is some suspense as to how close Gabriel will get before he is given his just dues.
Christopher Walken returns as the creepy Gabriel. Jennifer Beals is too wide-eyed for my tastes. Eric Stoltz looks good as usual. Even though it unnecessarily drags, The Prophecy 2 is worth watching if you're really attached to the first film. Otherwise I recommend giving this one a miss.
The Prophecy 3: The Ascent somewhat makes up for the mess that is The Prophecy 2, with a story and plot that does the first film some justice.
Gabriel (Christopher Walken) is now no longer the avenging angel wishing to kill the offspring of an human-angel mating. Instead, his cause has been taken up by Zophael (Vincent Spano). In a twist of events, Gabriel ends up fighting Zophael to save the aforementioned Nephalim, Danyael (Dave Buzzota), who is somehow capable of ushering in a new era. In the end, god itself settles the issue.
The movie is worth watching if you've seen the first two Prophecy films since it does bring about some closure. I think the trilogy could be made into a single decent (but somewhat long) film that is about the second war of the angels.
The trilogy is all about Gabriel: his fall from heaven to hell, his rise to earth from hell, and his eventual acceptance back into heaven. Thank god for such magnanimity.
Christopher Walken does make for a convincing Gabriel, and the supporting characters and actors do a decent job, but I don't think the vision behind the trilogy was entirely thought through (unless the goal was to make a series of B-grade films).