CITY OF ANGELS
Release Date: April 10, 1998 Starring: Nicolas Cage, Meg Ryan, Andre Braugher, Dennis Franz, Colm Feore Directed by: Brad Silberling Distributed by: Warner Brothers MPAA Rating: PG-13 (sexuality including language, some nudity) URL: http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio/reviews/1998/city.htm
It wasn't quite clear, as Director Brad Silberling opened his nearly two-hour love story CITY OF ANGELS, what image he wanted to give the elite corps of men and women that trod the Earth as God's messengers. The image, although not strictly important on an internal basis, unintentionally becomes important because of the American public's fascination with angelic beings. As Scott Adams, the creator of 'Dilbert,' writes: "It's statistically proven that a ninety-pound woman can lift a Chrysler minivan off of her trapped husband with enough adrenalin"; and usually when she does, the tabloids and talk shows are run amok with stories of angels coming to the rescue. And what about the all-too-familiar story of someone retrieving their developed film from Walgreens or K-mart to see superimposed images of the risen Jesus or the Virgin Mary? There's no denying the attachment to angels, so Silberling has to be very careful with what he does. Whatever he did, though, it turned out all right.
Silberling, whose last feature film was about another less-than-human being (CASPER), sets up a solid romance between Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan. Cage, who had previously starred in two senseless but enjoyable action films (CON AIR and FACE/OFF), gets to show a loveable innocence that helps his character into the audiences' hearts. Ryan, last heard as the voice of Anastasia in the movie of the same title, is present in the same spunky manner. Her curly mop of frosted blond hair and willingness to break into ear-to-ear smiles gives her a seat with the audience as well. Even though the characters are hard to deny, they end up taking a while to get together. This displeases the audience, especially after one or two surprising plot turns, and it slows down a movie that was otherwise moving at a comfortable speed.
The movie has a great narrative hook, and through it we learn of Seth (Cage). An angel, Seth can only be seen by the dying, delirious, and of course, his fellow angels, of whom there are quite many. The rather spooky group inhabits (no surprise) the city of angels, Los Angeles, sitting on skyscrapers, the Hollywood sign, Dodger Stadium, and other civic landmarks. They cannot taste, smell, or touch, but they know no fear, no hunger, no pain, and they hear music in the sunrise (a particularly poetic twist). Seth, unlike many other angels, longs to be human, and his desire is urged onward when he falls in love with Maggie (Ryan), a beautiful heart surgeon. With the consoling words of his best friend Cassiel (Andre Braugher) and the help of a patient at her hospital (Dennis Franz), Seth comes to the threshold of his decision between remaining an angel forever, or being with Maggie as a human forever.
Along with that thought-provoking decision, CITY OF ANGELS also displays some interesting themes, of which some are laughable and others are very intense. Although there's nothing deep about the movie - it's bread and butter romance between man and woman - the level of intelligence is elevated by the plot intricacies that develop as a result of Seth's angelic state. The movie frequently shows us that Seth can hear a human's thoughts as he passes by them, and it's surprising just how real the scripted thoughts are. Following Seth in and out of the city also allows the spectacular cinematography: the angels are almost always accompanied by grand, sweeping views of Los Angeles. It takes skilled postproduction efforts to pull all of that down into a meaningful movie, and it's been done here. Granted, it gets windy in parts, but there's nothing too mushy or too corny about this romantic drama for anyone not to like it.
FINAL AWARD FOR "CITY OF ANGELS": 3.0 stars - a good movie.
-- Craig Roush kinnopio@execpc.com -- Kinnopio's Movie Reviews http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews