City of Angels Review
by Jon Popick (jpopick AT sick-boy DOT com)October 8th, 1999
PLANET SICK-BOY: http://www.sick-boy.com
I went with low expectations and thoughts of a hokey Ghost rip-off, but instead was treated to a stunningly beautiful picture. Even as I sat and watched it, I cringed and waited for the bottom to fall out, but it didn’t happen (at least until the last ten minutes). There was no “pottery-wheel” type scene, no cheesy promises about eternal love and not one crappy Righteous Brothers warble. Thank fucking Christ.
Since City of Angels is about a tall dark seraph (Nicolas Cage) that falls in love with an attractive cardiovascular surgeon (Meg Ryan), you can’t really blame a guy for being weary of suffering through Ghost II. What elevated Angels above the filth I expected was not only terrific acting performances from the entire cast, but also top-notch technical work as well.
Cage (ConAir) plays Seth, a worker angel responsible for helping the newly departed move on to bigger and better places. Like his co-workers, Seth dresses in a long black coat (ala Face/Off’s Caster Troy), hangs out at the library (which oddly resembles the building where Troy hides his Doomsday machine) and watches the sun rise and set while standing on the beach.
After watching over a dying young girl in the County Hospital, Seth finds his next assignment under the knife of the lovely Doctor Maggie Smith (Ryan, Addicted to Love). As the guy dies, the invisible Seth stares deep into Maggie’s pretty blue eyes (to match her O.R. scrubs) and is shocked when she stares back and announces that she’s not ready for her patient to be taken yet. Seth isn’t sure if she really saw him, but he is sure that Maggie is definitely worth a return visit. Or two. Hey, the guy does a lot of hospital work.
While Maggie wallows in self- doubt after losing the patient, Seth falls head over heels. He eventually makes himself visible to Maggie and the two seemed headed toward everlasting bliss. But, Seth is still an angel – lacking in senses and incapable of emotion. D’OH!
Seth struggles to decide whether to cast aside his eternal life to become a real boy. He gets help and advice from co-worker Cassiel (Andre Braugher, Homicide) and another heart patient named Nathan Messinger (Dennis Franz, NYPD Blue). Meanwhile, Maggie tries to decide which boy to chase – the mysterious unblinking Seth, or her live-in doctor boyfriend. A typical film would have made the boyfriend a drunken lout, but this guy’s only bad traits are being both boring and a smoker.
Things proceed predictably toward the last reel, when Angels transforms from a great film to a B movie. The ending is so awfully written that it’s hard to actually feel anything for the characters. Earlier scenes were more successful in playing with my emotions. In fact, there were about three decent “cry” spots in the first fifteen minutes, but the ending just made me want to get up and leave. It wasn’t fair to stick it on the end of an otherwise flawless picture.
Ryan transcends her pixie-ish cuteness with one of her best performance ever and Cage is perfectly cast as the confused angel. Braugher seems under used in his supporting role, while Franz shines as a spunky scene-stealer. Director Brad Silberling (Casper) has made an incredible transformation from his previous effort and is undoubtedly aided by The English Patient’s Oscar winning team of Cinematographer John Seale and Composer Gabriel Yared, as well was Production Designer Lilly Kilvert (Strange Days). Angels has a strikingly rich and stylish look and, like most films today, vaunts a hip modern rock soundtrack. But you should still see it. Did I mention that there was a vomiting scene? Jesus, what are you waiting for?
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
