City of Angels (10 April 1998)
directed by Brad Silberling
starring Nicholas Cage, Meg Ryan, André Braugher, Dennis Franz, Colm Feore
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MPAA rating: Studio: Regency Enterprises Script: Dana Stevens Music: Gabriel Yared Running time: 116 minutes Tags: angels; Drama; emotions; love; Romance; tragedy Tactical strength: [7/10]
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for sexuality including language and some nudity
Imagine that you just got a pair of "X-Ray" glasses. You put on the glasses and suddenly you see the angels that live along side us and go about helping people and comforting the recently deceased. City of Angels provides those glasses, and enables you to see the angels inhabiting Los Angeles.
Like all the other angels, Seth (Nicholas Cage) wears the angel uniform of black pants, shirt, and overcoat. But Seth seems somewhat more curious about the human condition than other angels. He always asks the recently deceased what they liked best about being human, and he keeps their responses in a journal. While attending a routine death in the hospital, Seth encounters Dr. Maggie Rice (Meg Ryan), a heart surgeon.
Seth voyeuristically follows Maggie around for a while and finally decides to make himself visible to her. They pretty much fall for each other, begin spending time together, and generally fall in love according to the love-story formula. But their relationship has one big problem. Maggie can't feel Seth. So their relationship must be doomed, or something must change: either Maggie must die and enter Seth's world, or Seth must somehow become human.
Enter Nathaniel Messinger (Dennis Franz), former angel and major hedonist. Seth meets Messinger in the hospital. Messinger explains that God gave angels and humans the same gift: free choice. Humans can choose how they want to live; angels can choose to become human. And the movie becomes as predictable as television commercial breaks. After the requisite lovers' spat (Maggie freaks out about Seth's noncorporeal nature), Seth takes the plunge, becomes human, and discovers the tragic paradox of humanity: along with the possibility of extreme happiness comes the possibility of extreme sadness.
I must admit, I was skeptical about the choice of casting Cage as as angel, but Cage's performance quickly alleviated any concerns. He easily projects the feelings of calm and serenity you would expect from an angel.
I probably wouldn't have liked City of Angels nearly as much if Silberling hadn't included several visually stunning and surreal scenes, such as black-clad angels gathering on an empty beach to watch the sunset. (Of course, I also kept thinking of scenes from Men in Black.)
Although constructed almost entirely of cliches, City of Angels rallys its cliches synergistically to produce a pleasing, though predictable, story.
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