Angel Eyes
Angel Eyes
R | 18 May 2001 (USA)
Angel Eyes Trailers

A story about a seemingly unlikely couple who cross paths under life-threatening circumstances as though they are destined not only to meet but to save each other's lives. Not once, but twice.

Reviews
Claysaba

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

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FuzzyTagz

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

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Jonah Abbott

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

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Kaydan Christian

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

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zardoz-13

"Angel Eyes" differs from the usual mindless summer film fare. Audiences under age 30 may classify this brooding, lethargic, romantic mystery with Jennifer Lopez and Jim Caviezel as downbeat, impersonal, and tiresome. Neither "Message in a Bottle" director Luis Mandoki and "Sharkey's Machine" scenarist Gerald DiPego cater to neatly tying up all the loose narrative threads at fade-out nor pander to erratic attention-deficit style editing to ingratiate audiences with their lachrymose cops & lovers yarn. Instead, every scene in "Angel Eyes" portrays life as an experience where people sometimes cannot resolve conflicts. Mandoki and DiPego dole out plot details like bread crumbs to string us along, and this piecemeal strategy maintained my attention."Angel Eyes" will either intrigue you or will infuriate you entirely with the way they draw out the inevitable. They give their characters room enough to develop, and a gifted, first-class cast exploits every opportunity. Admirably, much of this provocative, above-average, but uneven 'chick flick' springs from the characters and their reactions to the obstacles thwarting their desires. Unwisely, Mandoki and DiPego rely on some plot contrivances that undercut credibility but deepen dramatic impact."Angel Eyes" opens in Chicago at the scene of a tragic traffic accident. Windy City cop Sharon Pogue (Jennifer Lopez of "Maid in Manhattan") comforts an accident victim until the paramedics arrive. Mandoki and DiPego create an intriguing aura of mystery early on in the story, because the victim remains anonymous. Cleverly but effectively, they capture the action from the perspective of the injured passenger. A year elapses, and the main plot gradually begins to unfold. "Angel Eyes" depicts Sharon Pogue as a tough, resourceful, fearless police woman who can handle anything that the criminal element can dish out. She tackles one big hoodlum, body slams the dastard against the hood of her police cruiser, and the cuffs and stuffs him. Later, at the precinct house, the thug gives her lip and grabs her. Pogue roughs him up without a second thought, only to have her partner Robby (Terrence Howard of "Iron Man") reprimand her. "Don't bust my balls," Pogue complains irritably as if she were a guy.Indeed, shunning her glamorous pop diva persona, Lopez delivers a persuasive, rock-solid performance as a dedicated but lonely, insomniac cop with a woebegone past who prefers the graveyard shift. Basically, Sharon jailed her abusive father Carl (Victor Argo of "The Yards") ten years ago for beating up her mother Josephine (Brazilian actress Sonia Braga of "The Rookie"), and bad blood has existed ever since between them. Essentially, her father disowned her after his arrest. Surprisingly, her mother invites her to attend a ceremony where they plan to renew their marriage vows. Sharon's working class brother Larry (Jeremy Sisto of "The Suicide Kings") isn't overjoyed about seeing his hard-nosed sister. Eventually, Larry batters his own wife Kathy (Monet Mazur of "Mystery Men") in a fit of rage. Arriving at the scene, Sharon slugs Larry in the mouth in front of her own brothers-in-blue! The cops refuse to arrest Sharon when Larry cries police brutality.Later, Sharon is hanging out with fellow cops at a diner when black gunmen in a car wheel up and unload a fusillade of bullet at them. The fleeing gangstas wreck their car, and the cops chase them. Sharon pursues a lone gunman, and the suspect ambushes her. Shooting her twice in the chest, he takes aim at her face when a mysterious stranger intervenes. This unshaven Samaritan knocks the assailant off Sharon and saves her life! When Sharon recovers, she learns that her dark-haired hero in a trench coat calls himself Catch (Jim Caviezel of "Frequency") and just happened to be across the street when the gunfight erupted. An awkward relationship blossoms from their chance encounter. Catch behaves as if he were suffering from amnesia. Despite Sharon's attempts to draw him out in conversation, he refuses to talk about himself. Aimlessly, he wanders the streets at night and performs good deeds at random. For example, Catch spots a car with its headlamps burning. Opening the door, he reaches inside to switch them off. Just as he does, the angry owner accuses him of stealing. Catch decks himself out in a wardrobe like the Nicholas Cage character from director Brad Silverling's "City of Angels," but he is a flesh-and-blood entity, not an angel.Eventually, Sharon and Catch date. At a state park on a picnic, they frolick in the lake, then get intimate on the beach. Unlike most citizens who ask Sharon how many people she has shot in the line of duty, Catch praises her for her unselfish sacrifices. Their oddball but believable relationship endures its share of ups and down like most real relationships. Specifically, Sharon comes clean about herself with Catch, but he retreats into silence or anger about himself as if he were playing hard to get."Angel Eyes" rarely strays from the issues at hand. This character driven drama deals with sudden death, dysfunctional families, and spousal abuse, but it offers no facile answers. Like Mandoki's earlier effort "Message in a Bottle," "Angel Eyes" shows that life gives those a second chance at love that wants to take it. Like his even earlier movie "When a Man Loves a Woman," "Angel Eyes" shows that some of life's problems lay beyond our reach to resolve them. Wow, how many movies seize life by the horns anymore? The romance between Sharon and Catch has depth with occasional interludes of comedy. Lopez and Caviezel share a chemistry that makes their affair seem not only credible but also interesting, too. They don't behave like brainless, sugar-coated, naive lovers. Pop tunes don't blare on the soundtrack while the principals ride around in product placement sports convertibles. Indeed, "Angel Eyes" takes itself seriously and gets away with this sober attitude more often than not. Only when the coincidences seem really contrived, such as when Catch jumps Sharon's assailant, does "Angel Eyes" blink.

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ianlouisiana

Ther are silly films,really silly films,and there is "Angel eyes". It is way too long,there is no performance strong enough to anchor it,there are very few believable characters.The exception being Mr Victor Argot as Miss Lopez's father,a small role with little dialogue but a first class example of how good actors can do "less is more". Miss Lopez herself is far from convincing as a Chicago cop I'm afraid. Too physically flawless to resemble a real human being,she would not survive ten minutes in the blisteringly macho world of the real thing. Mr Jim Cazaviel with doe eyes and designer stubble seems to have persuaded a lot of people that he has given a performance of great sensitivity,but I am not amongst them.He is not traumatised,rather he is catatonic. No one was more surprised than I when he sat in at a jazz club and played a version of "Nature Boy" that Jack Sheldon would have been proud of. The various sub - plots about domestic violence and guilt transference don't work and are merely tedious. Quite what the title refers to I am at a loss to explain.I thought originally it might be to the 1950s Matt Dennis song of that name but I was to be sadly disappointed. If you want to watch a movie about two miserable people who walk around with faces as long as a wet week in Southend "Angel Eyes" will hit the spot.It will make a change from listening to your Leonard Cohen CDs.

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rsgeorge5

I saw this film for the 2nd time last night with some friends, and we all enjoyed it. I kinda have a soft spot for J.Lo, I think she is a little under-rated, I loved her in films like Blood & Wine, Out of Sight and recently Bordertown. In Angel Eyes she is beautiful, aggressive, soft and hurt ... I think Jim Cavaziel helps bring her down from any 'Star Scene Stealing' - he is so calm, and dashing here, I think she was as transfixed as us! It's a gentle film, that doesn't feel the need to rush proceedings, letting the audience sit and figure out the mystery, and even if like us you figured it out at least 30mins before the end, I think you will still want to stay with it and see how the characters wind up. Check it out, and curl up with this engaging drama. 6/10

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g_lux

Saw the movie on cable, and thought it was well acted. JLo gets busted on a lot as a lousy actress, but I think she did really well in this one. Caviezel gets many of these roles as a tortured soul seeking redemption (see also Frequency). I thought it was brilliant how the two main characters are displayed as so alike with painful pasts, yet they both need the same thing. There were some neat twists in the story, like Sharon remembering Catch from the accident. The end was kind of Disney-like (except for the seat belts), but you feel like these two deserve a happy ending, after all they've been through. Overall a very good movie. Definitely a 'chick flick'.

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