User Reviews

This film is about a young man, Chance (Brian Presley - Borderland), who has a lot of problems with his life, that he must overcome.

His father Liam, (Ed Harris) is currently in prison for beating a man to death, and has been elected head of the Aryan Nation, which gives him certain privileges, but also some obligations that he must fulfill.

Chance's best friend Beat (Chad Lindberg - The Fast and the Furious) has a lot of psychological problems, and is currently involved with a notorious drug-dealer, Rath (Ash Adams - Lionheart), who also happens to be a crooked cop, and doesn't take no for an answer.

Apart from these problems, Chance has just found out that his ex-girlfriend Kat, (Alison Eastwood - Tightrope) has been raising his child while he was in jail, but now decides to split and leave the kid with him, all the while Rath is hassling him, Beat, and Liam.

Chance gets some help from his old pal, bar-owner Eddie (Peter Weller - RoboCop), who in return expects Chance to do some street-fighting for him. Random fights is the only job Chance can get, apart from dealing drugs, but as he now has a young son to raise, and recently finds new love in Pearl (Taraji P. Henson - Hustle & Flow), who just happens to be black - something Liam's fellow Aryan brothers certainly doesn't approve of, and they send their number two, Sonny (Peter Greene - Pulp Fiction) to tell him about it in person.

The thing about this film that makes it fall beneath the cracks of goodness, is the sheer lack of common sense. For starters, it doesn't make any sense, that: 1) Liam became the head of the Aryan nation, but doesn't seem very well-liked by ANY of the other Aryans. 2) Chance's girlfriend just leaving her son with him - an almost complete stranger - after raising the kid for 5 years! 3) The part about Rath ending the way it did - made NO sense whatsoever.

In the end, it all just feels like the story could've gone in SO many other directions, which would've been better. And the producers had an all-star stellar cast of character-actors, which they didn't use for anything at all!

I mean, the movie has Richard Tyson (Kindergarten Cop), Antonio Vargas (Starsky & Hutch), Jesse D. Goins (RoboCop), Sticky Fingaz (Onyx), Rance Howard (Ed Wood), and Steve friggin' Railsback (Lifeforce), and a LOT of other great character-actors, but they're all just completely WASTED in this production, only half of them getting any lines, and the rest just appearing in a few minutes with hardly any screen-time at all... it makes no sense, not to use any of them for anything.. why not just cast some random unknowns instead?

I felt like a good opportunity was missed here. Some of the points came across well, but mostly it was just wasted.

I am giving a rather low rating for a movie that is, shot for a low budget of $650000 in only a few weeks, surprisingly well made. I'll try my best to explain why, without spoiling any aspect of the story:

the movie starts out strong as the main character Chance, a drug dealer released from prison after five years is trying hard to change his live for the better. what's not to like about this beginning? Chance is likable (and cute) enough, no surprise here: we want him to succeed but we almost instantly sense that chances for Chance are slim!

the more the story evolves and presents its challenges to our "hero to be", the more all the characters are evolving into rather overdone caricatures, loaded with stereotypes ...

Writer/Producer/Director/Actor Adams meant well but in the end only manages to deliver a well executed movie with an o.k. story but totally lacking convincing characters. This, however is only my personal opinion and should not keep anyone from watching the movie.

Brian presley (was on port charles, for years) is chance, just out of prison. Life growing up was pretty rough, and his dad, played by ed harris is also in prison. It's got some issues; we're twenty minutes in, and the plot seems to be that he has to take care of his kid, now that mom has taken off. And chance seems to owe someone money, although we have no idea who or why. They hardly ever say anyone's name, so we're never really sure who anyone is. The sound level is sometimes so low, we have to really crank the volume, which is annoying. Now it's thirty minutes in, we find out that dad is running a drug syndicate from inside prison, and doesn't want chance to be any part of it. It gets pretty messy. Swearing, blood, and violence. This has some pretty well known names in smaller parts... rance howard (ron's dad), sharon gless (cagney), alison eastwood (daughter of clint), amy madigan is rose. The story has legs, but needs a tune-up. Could have been better. The acting performances were fine. Written and directed by ash adams. Was on ryan's hope, acted a bit, and has moved on to writing and directing.

I should have liked this movie. It has so many elements that I normally enjoy: Ed Harris, prison drama and action, criminal brotherhood, and it's an indie film (which I tend to prefer to large studio movies).

Unfortunately, all of these elements were combined very poorly. The result is on par with a made-for-TV movie or, at best, some crappy Dean Cain or Casper Van Diem movie shown at 3am on TNT ("Starship Troopers" excluded, of course).

And though I feel like 2/10 is a harsh score (especially for a low-budget indie film), every time I reconsider the score my mind flashes to many poorly written, poorly acted, poorly directed scenes that are burned into my memory. It's a bad movie; 2/10 is fair.

Review: I'm usually a fan of Ed Harris's work, but I found this movie quite weak and the storyline pretty boring. It seemed like it was made for TV and you don't really get to see why Ed Harris is so feared in jail. You also don't get to see what happened to the corrupt cop after all of his evil doings and the ending was corny. I now know why I hadn't heard anything about the film before it came came because it's one of those low budget films that will be forgotten, even though there were some decent actors in it. The only watchable factor is that you want to see what happens to the main character whose trying to go straight, but apart from that, I didn't find it that interesting. Disappointing!

Round-Up: At the age of 64, Ed Harris is still churning out movies with great performances. From Pain & Gain to a brief role in Gravity, he still makes some decent movies but a lot of them go straight to DVD. He has a unique, cool way of acting which is great to watch but he has made some bad choices of late. I was surprised to see Sharon Glees, who used to play Cagney in Cagney & Lacey, but she only had a small role without much lines. I think that everyone thought that she would have been a bigger star than she was. As for this movie, it started off well and the storyline looked promising, but it went downhill after the main character came out of prison. 

I recommend this movie to people who are into their drama/crime movies about a guy who comes out of prison and tries to go straight, now that he has to look after his 5 year old boy, but he keeps on getting pulled in the wrong direction. 3/10

This film with a budget of only $650,000 Writer/Director/Actor Ash Adams should be applauded for putting together such a stellar cast and really pulled it off. If you're a fan of independent film do yourself a favor and see Once Fallen. The acting is superb and the plot develops very well. This film is about a family and their close knit friends having to live with the hard choices they make, and the price they pay for those choices. I've seen countless low budget films and this is one of the best I've ever seen. His performance playing a dirty cop is both captivating and terrifying. Once Fallen is a crime drama with a very touching relationship between fathers and sons. The strong performances of the cast adds to the raw emotion of the film. Watch the Blu-ray version so you can appreciate how good this film looks. This film deserves more attention!

Bad acting, bad story, bad characters. Omg. I want my wasted time back.

This film receiving a 3.6/10 is unfathomable to me. The acting is superb and the plot develops very well. This film is about a family and their close knit friends having to live with the hard choices they make, and the price they pay for those choices. There is real emotion to this film and the characters are developed extremely well. It has elements of film noir in its gritty and detailed depiction of characters with rough edges and all but that really adds to this film's power. Ed Harris does not disappoint in his role as the deeply flawed yet caring father, who puts everything on the line for his son over and over again (not wanting to spoil anything, that is all I will say about that). An excellent film, well worth watching.

(2009) Once Fallen DRAMA

Straight-to-rental, written, directed and edited by Ash Adams which is not a bad effort just because the overall experience is unpredictable, unique and just the same relatable just because the way the characters react and talk. The story first centers on a couple of children whose lives would be changed forever because of a recall of a specific event where no child should ever have to witness but would automatically remember is when a father (in this case Ed Harris) beats a man to death. He, of course goes to prison for doing just that, assuming that he had a very bad temper. It was enough to beat this man to death who was an ex wife's boyfriend, and as a result of seeing one of his kids with a black eye went berserk. The movie then jumps to several years later, and the brothers are older with one of them in prison but not locked up in the same prison as his dad. Theirs an illegal underground no-holds-bar fight happening in the prison where this older brother has been withheld and he's beating up this nobody- UFC style. Aiding him is an African American prison guard who instructs him. But as soon as he leaves prison, he finds out that while his dad was in prison he happens to be a leader of an Aryan nation gang. And this is crucial because the subplot also involves drug turf, corrupt narcotic police officers and working for sleazy bar owner played by Peter Weller. I thought upon watching this film that it's going to be another movie about underground MMA matches taking place but was quite relieved that it wasn't about that since they're so many movies about that. The scene that was resonate with me the most was the screaming matches between biological father and son, since we had all screamed at our closest siblings one time or another arguing about nothing- this scene is authentic.

This was a great movie. The main character Chance was very believable as well as captivating. Ed Harris as always gave a very deep performance as Chance's father. Tajiri Henson (Hustle & Flow), Amy Madigan (Gone baby Gone), Ash Adams & Peter Weller (Robo Cop) all gave strong supporting performances. Ash Adams i the director, writer and has a good role in this movie. I watched "Once Fallen" 2 days ago and plan to watch it again. It has been on my mind since I watched it. I'm not sure why it has some low ratings, but it did not stop me from enjoying this very well made film. I honestly would have rated it between a 6 and a 7 but since a lot of people that I don't believe watched the film gave it low ratings I gave it a 10 to help it out. For your info, this movie is in the style of "American History X". Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this movie.

If you're a fan of independent film do yourself a favor and see Once Fallen. I've seen countless low budget films and this is one of the best I've seen. Writer/Director/Actor, Ash Adams should be applauded for putting together such a stellar cast with a budget of only $650,000. And his performance as a dirty cop is both captivating and terrifying. Once Fallen is a crime drama with a very touching theme about fathers and sons at the center. The strong performances of the cast adds to the raw emotion of the film. Watch the Blu-ray version so you can appreciate how good this film looks. This film deserves more attention!

It is refreshing to see a low budget film like this out doing lot's and lot's of big name actor films of late. The story is solid, goes along at a good pace, acting is good (due to a well picked cast). A solid 8 out of 10 and a hell of a lot better film than some of the over rated B grade crap that I have seen coming from the over paid Hollywood production line for some time. Watch it as it is worth a view.

It is refreshing to see a low budget film like this out doing lot's and lot's of big name actor films of late. The story is solid, goes along at a good pace, acting is good (due to a well picked cast). A solid 8 out of 10 and a hell of a lot better film than some of the over rated B grade crap that I have seen coming from the over paid Hollywood production line for some time. Watch it as it is worth a view.

I love this movie. It's about family , hard choices and struggling to find a better path. Anyone who's ever had a dark or troubled past can relate to Chance's struggle.

So, it's not perfect, but almost perfect it is. I mean there is nothing about I love it or I hate it. Just very good film. I picked up this piece because I like Ed Harris very much - one of my favorite. He didn't disappoint me again. And the rest of acting was equally good - almost brilliant. Everything is OK - music, shooting, story, action, feelings, space for viewers to muse about relations and such. I wonder why so many people give relatively bad rating, it's just very nice movie. I admit - this is no review, just reaction to undeserved underrating. Give it a chance if you are not eager to watch big Hollywood blasts and chases but realistic story of people on the edge of society, but still part of it.

I think this movie is under-rated. Unfortunately, I checked the IMDb rating before I watched the movie and watched it with the expectation of being disappointed. However, as the movie progressed the acting and plot surprised me. It was well worth watching, and is a movie that I will remember as being great.

Many of the characters are difficult to like or relate to. The profanity was a turn-off for me. However, it told an interesting story without resorting to cheap sentimentality. If people are expecting a typical Hollywood style blockbuster then they will be disappointed. I thought it was a realistic portrayal of shady characters who are difficult to like but did a good job of developing the characters throughout the movie. In the end, a few characters go from being unlikable degenerates to heroes.