A Wild Fantasy Movie With Cuba Gooding Jr. Is Taking Over Amazon Prime Video

It's been quite a ride for Cuba Gooding Jr. When we first saw him, he was just a goofy-looking 20-year-old kid trying to keep a straight face as Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall yukked it up as heavily made-up (by the great Rick Baker) old-timers at a Queens barbershop in "Coming to America." Three years later, he was the lead of John Singleton's groundbreaking drama "Boyz n the Hood," which launched him to big-screen stardom. Or should have, anyway. Instead, Hollywood relegated him to thankless supporting roles in crap like "Lightning Jack" and "Outbreak" until he finally got another role worthy of his talent in Cameron Crowe's "Jerry Maguire." As Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Rod Tidwell, Gooding did the sports world a service by demonstrating that uniquely talented individuals fighting to maximize their earnings before said talent fades are not the enemy; it's the business that fights hard to devalue them to save a buck or two that's worthy of our scorn.

Gooding won a deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar for that performance, which finally launched him to big-screen stardom. Or should have, anyway. Instead, he was apparently only worthy of two-handers with established greats like Anthony Hopkins, Robert De Niro, and Skeet Ulrich. By the mid-2000s, Gooding could get arrested, but not in anything worth watching (save for Ridley Scott's "American Gangster"). By the end of the 2000s, Gooding had been charged by 30 women with sexual misconduct. He settled a rape lawsuit in 2020, and is currently the co-defendant in a sexual assault lawsuit brought against Sean "Diddy" Combs.

Given the multiple pending and settled lawsuits brought against Gooding, it's a sad commentary on our society that people are still keen to watch him in movies. But if you're still down to watch him tarnish what's left of his career, have I got a movie for you.

From Uncork'd Entertainment, the distributors of dire, cheap-looking movies featuring people who used to be contenders in various areas of entertainment, comes "Angels Fallen: Warriors of Peace." It's the sequel to "Angels Fallen" (which has nothing to do with the "Angel Has Fallen" franchise). The film just premiered on Amazon Prime, and is currently the service's third most popular movie behind "Infinite" and the seriously worthwhile "Abigail." Judging from the trailer, it stars Gooding as the angel Balthazar who's tasked with motivating an Iraq War veteran to round up a fighting force of good guys (including former UFC champion Randy Couture and Denise Richards) to beat down a demon army sent by hell to take over the Earth.

Does it look promising? God, no. It looks cheap, stupid, and unwatchable, regardless of which substances you've plowed into your system. It looks like the kind of movie Eric Roberts makes on the way to making another movie (that movie would've been "Angels Fallen," the precursor to "Angels Fallen: Warriors of Peace"). But it's here, and it's inexplicably popular on Amazon Prime. If that sounds like your kind of garbage that gives trash a bad name, bon appétit.