Review: Fallen

If you are still experiencing withdrawal symptoms from the end of the hugely popular Twilight film series, then Fallen, adapted from the 2009 YA novel by Lauren Kate, may the answer to your prayers. However, the insipidness of the film, obviously offered as the first installment of a potential franchise, makes the romantic tribulations of Bella, Edward and Jacob positively Shakespearean in comparison.

Don't worry if you miss the opening prologue, which explains how angels roam the Earth amongst us mere mortals as a result of former angel Lucifer's revolt against God. All angels were forced to choose a side and those who refused because they believed that love was the only thing worth fighting for were banished, cursed to live with humankind until they chose a side. All this information will be repeated practically in verbatim by Miss Sophia (Joely Richardson) to her students at the Sword and Cross reform school for young adults. It doesn't get any less expository or ridiculous the second time around.

Fallen's Bella is Lucinda "Luce" Price (Addison Timlin), the school's latest arrival, who experiences disturbing hallucinations and is harbouring a dark secret. Within mere minutes of her stepping foot inside the school, she meets Cam Briel (Harrison Gilbertson). In case his floppy hair, slouchy posture, leather jacket and suggestive sucking on a lollipop didn't make his bad boy status obvious enough, Luce is told by a fellow student to stay away from him: "He's trouble, and not the good kind."

Then there's Daniel Grigori (Jeremy Irvine), a heavenly-faced young man who either flees at the sight of Luce or stares at her with mouth agape, though he does seem more comfortable approaching her when shirtless in the school's swimming pool. His bare torso aside, Luce can't help but feel attracted to the monosyllabic Daniel - she's certain that she knows him from somewhere just as viewers can be sure that their eyes will be constantly circumnavigating their sockets at the sheer awfulness of it all.

This is cheesiness at its most curdled, with the attractive young cast doing nothing to challenge the stereotype that YA film adaptations are basically trussed-up soap operas that are all surface and no substance. Perhaps Fallen would have been better rendered had it been developed as a television series. This particular genre has traditionally been looked down upon, yet shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Vampire Diaries are strong evidence that considerable depth can be found within that fantastical framework. Fallen, on the other hand, is perfectly content to be a hollow, instantly forgettable, and entirely pointless watch.

Fallen

Directed by: Scott Hicks

Written by: Michael Arlen Ross, Kathryn Price, Nichole Millard; based on the novel by Lauren Kate

Starring: Addison Timlin, Jeremy Irvine, Harrison Gilbertson, Daisy Head, Lola Kirke, Sianoa Smit-McPhee, Hermione Corfield, Joely Richardson, Malachi Kirby, Juliet Aubrey