City of Angels
Brad Silberling's film is not so much a remake of Wim Wenders's Wings of Desire
as it is a tribute. In both films a guardian angel falls in love with a woman
and decides to become human so he can be with her. That's where the similarity
ends. Wenders's 1987 classic is dark, heavy, and poetic; Silberling's is light,
funny, more Hollywood. But City of Angels recaptures the beauty at the heart of
the original and has some powerful images of its own, including a scene where
all the angels -- dressed in black -- gather on the beach to watch the
sunset.
Nicolas Cage discovers his sensitive, innocent, gentle side as the angel Seth.
As Maggie Rice, a heart surgeon who listens to Hendrix in the operating room,
Meg Ryan plays the object of Seth's desire with typical Meg Ryan charm and
little else. And as friend-to-all Nathaniel Mestenger, Dennis Franz brings a
jolly charm to this semi-artsy date flick.
-- Jumana Farouky
|