City of Angels (1998) [Special Edition]

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City of Angels (1998) [Special Edition]

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An angel must decide if love is more important than eternal peace in this Americanized adaptation of Wim Wenders' modern classic Wings of Desire. Seth (Nicholas Cage) is an angel who hovers over the city of Los Angeles, listening to people's thoughts, observing their lives, and guiding them to the next world when they die. While Seth and his fellow angels try to offer comfort to people as they can, they are discouraged from direct contact with humans and are usually invisible to them. While at a hospital, Seth sees Maggie (Meg Ryan), a dedicated heart surgeon who attempts to save the life of a patient Seth was to call upon. Maggie is distraught after the patient passes, and her agony touches something inside the reserved Seth; he finds himself falling in love with her, and he decides to make himself visible so he can communicate with her. As Maggie gets to know the strange visitor in black who has suddenly appeared in her life, she finds herself torn between her new feelings for Seth and her attachment to her fiance Jordan (Colm Feore), a fellow doctor. Seth, on the other hand, has a serious choice to make – between immortality and giving it up in order to know both the pleasures and pains of being a human being. City of Angels also stars Dennis Franz as Messinger, a patient at the hospital who has some important advice for Seth. The film's soundtrack featured two Top Ten hits, "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls and "Uninvited" by Alanis Morissette.

Synopsis by Mark Deming, Allmovie.com

Hollywood has conjured cherubic angels ("It's a Wonderful Life"), hunky angels ("Michael"), button-down angels ("Here Comes Mr. Jordan") and debonair angels ("The Bishop's Wife"). But it was German filmmaker Wim Wenders who came up with clinically depressed angels in "Wings of Desire."

Among the many pleasures of Wenders's Berlin-based art film, the sober seraphs are back for more people-monitoring in an appealing mainstream remake, "City of Angels." In the new version, as well as the old, they spend their days and nights eavesdropping on mortal thoughts and conversations.

While permitted to comfort the suffering with a whisper or a caress, they follow the same prime directive as the crew of the USS Enterprise: They are forbidden to interfere with the fates of the natives. So they watch, wonder and soak up the Weltschmerz.

Of course, now that the story takes place in Los Angeles, the seraphs are less given to rueful contemplation of metaphysical issues than to just feeling the vibes. That's not to say that the remake is altogether without the original's lofty themes or lyric tone. Its approach is just like "Ghost."

Brad Silberling, the director of "Casper," has reached a higher plane in this film, despite a wrongheaded turn in the sticky final act. Though far from a seamless work, the film is gorgeously crafted, and Silberling obviously has a passion for angels. But then these days, who doesn't? It's no wonder these heavenly creatures are so down, as the demand on them has never been greater.

Don't expect to hear the whistle of wind through alabaster feathers. These angels don't come equipped with wings, harps or halos. Clad in long black overcoats and dark trousers, they look more like fashion designers than "messengers of God."

Basic black is a fabulous look for Nicolas Cage, whose bird's-nest hair has been tamed to match the serenity he brings to the role of Seth, a seraph who forsakes his celestial roost for the woman he loves: Maggie Rice (Meg Ryan), a gifted heart surgeon shaken over the loss of a patient.

After escorting the dearly departed's soul into the afterlife, Seth returns to help Maggie regain her confidence. In the process, he falls deeply in love with the passionate young doctor and, despite the risk, makes himself visible to her. Though engaged to a fellow surgeon, Maggie finds herself irresistibly drawn to the mysterious, compassionate man in black.

Though there's little doubt how this will sort itself out, writer Dana Stevens's scenario is not as formulaic as it might seem.

"Wings of Desire" may be the more esoteric of the two pictures, but it's the one with the Hollywood ending. "City of Angels" weighs the cost of true love, then asks, all too blatantly, if it's worth the bother. Cage and Ryan, with their expressive performances and radiant rapport, certainly make it seem so.

Review by Rita Kempley, Washington Post

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City of Angels (1998) [Special Edition]

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City of Angels (1998) [Special Edition]

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City of Angels (1998) [Special Edition]

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City of Angels (1998) [Special Edition]

Close

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City of Angels (1998) [Special Edition]

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City of Angels (1998) [Special Edition]

Close

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City of Angels (1998) [Special Edition]

Close

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City of Angels (1998) [Special Edition]

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City of Angels (1998) [Special Edition]

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City of Angels (1998) [Special Edition]

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City of Angels (1998) [Special Edition]

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Special Features:

Documentary "Making Angels"
Documentary "Inside the Special Effects"
Deleted Scenes with optional commentary by director Brad Silberling and editor Lynzee Klingman
Selected scenes with commentary by director of photography 'John Seale'
Selected scenes with commentary by production designer Lilly Kilvert
Interviews with and Peter Gabriel and Alanis Morissette
Theatrical Trailers
Music video by "U2"
Music Video by "Goo Goo Dolls"
Scene Access