Customer Reviews

City of Angels (Widescreen/Full Screen)

5 star:		(140)
4 star:		(43)
3 star:		(33)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

An angel of death (Nicolas Cage) falls in love with a surgeon (Meg Ryan) and wishes he were a real man.

I like love stories, but this was just too corny for me. Meg did her usual perky-girl-next-door thing but this time it felt fake. When she flashed her big trademark grin or let a single tear trickle ever-so-slowly down her beautiful face, it felt like she was just posing. I didn't buy her as a real person; too much staring thoughtfully into the camera and spouting trite dialogue. And who races downhill on a bike at the edge of a cliff with no hands and eyes closed? I'm still wondering why Nic Cage is a star. He played the same gosh-gee-whiz angel that Brad Pitt did in Meet Joe Black minus Brad's good looks and charm. His unwavering nobility was way too precious and those lingering close-ups on his blank face - please!

The movie is burdened with a cliché script that constantly implores us to Appreciate Life! Dare to Love! Reach Out and Touch Someone! Eat a Pear While There's Still Time! There is nothing to balance the sticky sentimentality except for Dennis Franz as an annoying ex-angel. I liked the song, "In the Arms of an Angel," but can't recommend this movie.

An angle, Seth (Nicolas Cage) on a mission to pick up a soul, is enamored of a woman, Dr. Maggie Rice (Meg Ryan) he comes across. Even though he is supposed to be invisible, she looked straight at him as a man. From that point on he contemplates maintaining a life with her. Unfortunately they are different species.

A chance encounter with a mysteriously sensitive and understanding hospital patient, Nathaniel Messinger (Dennis Franz) opens up the Seth's opportunity by explaining that due to free will Seth can die and be reborn as human if he really wants to.

But does Seth want to give up immortality? And at what cost?
Maggie does not believe in angles; so how will she react?

This film has some excellent photography and the pictures of Tahoe make you want to live there forever.

The film was based but no exactly copied form an earlier movie "Wings of Desire" (1987).

If you are interested in fallen angels then you can not miss "The Horn Blows at Midnight" (1945)

No affense or anything, but i don't like meg ryan. Her films are entirely boring, i think she as ruined herself abit by her surgery, and i would feel sorry for any pretty actress who had the same. God bless mine hasn't had anything done.

This film is soooo good. It makes you look at life in a whole other perspective. The performances in this film are phenomenal. Nicholas Cage, Meg Ryan, that dude from NYPD Blue, and the whole rest of the cast played fantastic roles. The story is both gripping and moving, and the script is awesome. The way the movie changes you is very spiritual. The cinematography, though subtle, is good. The score and the soundtrack is one of the most mournfull I have ever heard. Everything about this movie is surreal. See it. I highly reccomend this movie.

Why is it that movies about angels and heaven and death intrigue us? Is it because it is something untangible? something we all believe in but are not sure what it actually looks like?

City of Angels is a remake of the German movie "Der Himmel über Berlin" (The heaven over Berlin). That movie starts with the angel sitting on a broken church (Gedächtniskirche) in Berlin. Nicolas Cage sits on a skyscraper, America's cathedral.

He tries to get alive so he can feel and love. He is helped by another fallen angel played by a magnificent Dennis Frantz. He gets his wish, gets the girl but then...

Meg Ryan is superb as ever.

This film is so sad. I sat through it crying, whether it's the heartbreaking opening scene, when you first realise that Nicolas Cage is playing an angel, or the fact that the whole film is too good to be true, when the ending gets going.

At first, from seeing the trailer, it seemed like Meg Ryan couldn't see Nicolas Cage's character, and I thought it was going to be another Ghost. But it turns out the trailer shows all those bits of the film, and she really can see him.

The whole film is very strange at times, when people are having to act, and pretend not to see/feel Nicolas Cage around them. If I was them, I'd be jumping out of my skin as soon as he came anywhere near.

The whole angels thing is an interesting thing to do a movie about, and how many there are, and how they can't feel emotion. Well, Nicolas is perfect to play one of them, as he always has the same facial expression! And he's got such a lovely smile too. I still don't get why the angels all have to dress in black, but it is funny how Nicolas is scared of heights, poor baby, and is often shot very high up!

This is a great movie, but if you're a guy, you'll be sitting through it, rolling your eyes, and generally not caring. If you're female, I suggest you get the tissues BEFORE sitting down to watch this. You'll need it from the opening scene, believe me.

This film is so sad. I sat through it crying, whether it's the heartbreaking opening scene, when you first realise that Nicolas Cage is playing an angel, or the fact that the whole film is too good to be true, when the ending gets going.

At first, from seeing the trailer, it seemed like Meg Ryan couldn't see Nicolas Cage's character, and I thought it was going to be another Ghost. But it turns out the trailer shows all those bits of the film, and she really can see him.

The whole film is very strange at times, when people are having to act, and pretend not to see/feel Nicolas Cage around them. If I was them, I'd be jumping out of my skin as soon as he came anywhere near.

The whole angels thing is an interesting thing to do a movie about, and how many there are, and how they can't feel emotion. Well, Nicolas is perfect to play one of them, as he always has the same facial expression! And he's got such a lovely smile too. I still don't get why the angels all have to dress in black, but it is funny how Nicolas is scared of heights, poor baby, and is often shot very high up!

This is a great movie, but if you're a guy, you'll be sitting through it, rolling your eyes, and generally not giving a damn. If you're female, I suggest you get the tissues BEFORE sitting down to watch this. You'll need it from the opening scene, believe me.

For those of us who do believe in the existence of Angels, "City of Angels" is not only a sick joke, but a joke in and of itself. And horribly miscast, on top of everything else. Don't waste your time on this one.

Nic Cage comes to earth as an angel and stays because he falls in love with Meg Ryan. Enough terrible things cannot be said about this movie. Let's just say that I'm glad ... The ending actually made me laugh outloud.

It was girl's night out and I was (literally) dragged to see this movie, when it first came out! It's not that I hate 'chick flicks' (which this movie is) but I'm more of an action movie type person. Well, 'City of Angels' is one really sad chick flick and could have been more than just a sad chick flick. I must say that the idea of this movie was promising (since this is a remake of the German film "Wings of Desire" which I have not had the privilege of viewing), but I feel looses its hidden meaning and turns into a sad cliché love story. Plus, everyone knows the shpeal, but I guess I should go into further depth with the movie. (Hey I'm not that shallow...ok maybe I am.)

Ok, so angel dude goes down to earth to do his ritual 'guide the souls' to heaven thing. Yet, this angel dude is different from the rest of the angels, he's curious about the inner workings of humans and even keeps tabs with his 'clients' on what things they liked during their life in his handy dandy notepad. (I rather liked that part) Well, he comes across chick doctor, who was working on a patient. Well, during that moment of that scene she looks at him, screaming not to take the kid's life...well, he thinks she saw him. Actually, he was in invisi-angel mode only visible to the dead and other angels. Well, this perplexes him. He's like, 'did she really see me??' Well, she doesn't and sadly her patient dies. She has a hard time coping with the fact that she couldn't save him and angel dude is totally intrigued by this woman. So he follows her and watches her interact with a world that he feels he should be apart of...(for some odd reason I hear Ariel singing "Part of your world" ...dude...have I made a correlation between 'The Little Mermaid' and this movie...scary). Other angels notice his infatuation, and then warn him to stay clear from his new hobby. To no avail, he doesn't listen. So, he meets up with her and helps her cope. Well, they sort of take a liking to each other, although chick doctor has a hard time trusting him. Sadly, she totally freaks out when she finds out he's an angel. Boom there goes all that built up trust out the window. Wouldn't you totally freak out if the guy your crush'n on turns out to be an angel? He's now totally in love with this girl and she's totally freaked but oddly feels connected to him. Unfortunately, the freak out thing wins out and she can't be with him. He's in a dilemma. Hmm, he could become human, but how?? There's this one guy that did it, but can he do it? Does he have enough cajones to become human for the sake of true love?? Well go watch it and find out? (Yea, you know what happens!)

Ok, so my portrayal is a bit off, but I think you'll get the gist of it. I think that this movie focuses more on the romance between Seth and Maggie (wow I actually know their names) just to appease the female audience need for romance. This could have been a great movie, in my opinion, if they focused on his need to understand the human soul rather than do the 'give up everything for the sake of love' cliché. Another thing, I noticed with Seth is that he was in love with the idea of being in love (sort of like a Romeo complex...Oh I could go on and on interrogating the inner workings of Seth, but I'm only allocated 1000 words and I'm probably boring you right now!) and Maggie falls into play. Her character was rather interesting (teaching Seth about humanity while he teaches her to trust in the unknown) until the ending where is acts like a complete idiot. (This is another thing I hate about the movie.) I guess there is a reason why the ending ended that way. Maybe the director people wanted to get back to the main reason as to why Seth wanted to be apart of the human world in the first place. However, storyline played more on the romance thing and lost the aspect of Seth's curiosity of humanity.

As for the actors: Nicholas Cage did a good job as Seth (he tends to do well where his characters are rather angsty) and the same goes for Meg Ryan's portrayal of Maggie. I liked how the special effects set the mood of the story and the musical score.

To sum it up, I would probably enjoyed the movie more if they had focused on a main theme rather than give in to the masses and create a cliché love story.
The movie was good until the part where he had to choose whether to stay and angel or not, the rest was a let down. (Reason why I have this movie three stars) Yet, I can recommend this movie to those who are into tragic love movies, but to those who hate sad endings, don't waste your time!