YMMV / Gabriel (2007)

• Complete Monster: Asmodeus is one of the Fallen serving under Sammael. A complete narcissist, Asmodeus runs the "Funhouse" brothel where women are enslaved to work as prostitutes, including the former angel, or "Arc", Amitiel. Asmodeus takes regular slaves from the girls, mutilating their faces to resemble his own to satisfy his narcissism. Asmodeus, when given orders to assassinate an Arc, chooses to send a bomb to the Arc at a homeless shelter, killing everyone inside.
• Cult Classic: A low budget Australian film that was not a mainstream hit (although very profitable compared to its low budget), it has a dedicated fan base of Goths, emos and other horror/fantasy fans.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Reviews noted that Harry Pavlidis stole every scene as Uriel.
• Fan-Preferred Cut Content: Many of its fans nowadays would actually like to have seen Shane Abbess's three hour cut, which he only had to cut down to two because the studios said "we're an MTV generation now".
• Fight Scene Failure: During the fight between Sammael and Gabriel towards the end, the camera stays on a wide pan right, not cutting at all. Fight scenes tend to work better when the angles enhance the movements of the attacks, and thus the use of The Oner makes Sammael's beating look less impactful. This however improves once the scene goes on.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The movie ends with Gabriel choosing to commit suicide, ostensibly to be with Jade/Amitiel. It can be quite sad when one knows that Andy Whitfield would die only four years later, leaving his wife heartbroken.
• Ho Yay: Gabriel's killing of Michael is done by impaling him on the pole he's been stabbed with, bringing him into a Deadly Hug. He even opens his mouth in a way that looks like he's about to kiss him.
• Just Here for Godzilla: After Andy Whitfield's subsequent fame and tragic death, many new fans sought Gabriel out as one of his only other lead roles.
• Narm: The dramatic scene between Gabriel and Michael before he dies can be rendered somewhat comical by the fact that Gabriel has a pole sticking through his body.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Andy Whitfield would achieve worldwide stardom three years later as the lead in Spartacus: Blood and Sand.
  • Erika Heynatz would become more recognisable for Home and Away.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Lilith the Dark Action Girl gets very little screen time or dialogue, with only vague motivations implying she's not wild about Sammael. Erika Heynatz is a real scene-stealer too, but we never get to properly see her be more than a featured extra who dies anti-climactically. Shane Abbess's original cut was three hours, presumably giving her more characterization.
  • Raphael looks like he's going to factor into the plot more once Gabriel heals him, but is a Sacrificial Lamb to demonstrate how evil Sammael is. Again, possibly he might have had a larger role in the three-hour cut.