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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
It seems, at first, that Gerald Di Pego's script will turn in a supernatural direction--or at least a metaphysical one--but it doesn't, and director Luis Mandoki navigates an emotional minefield while acknowledging the walls that people build between themselves and the traumatic events they wish to forget. Catch has kept a deliberate distance between himself and a tragedy that Sharon had witnessed--not a repressed nightmare, but a devastating loss from which he will, eventually, recover. That these two characters should rediscover each other at a time of mutual need is not a contrived coincidence. In Angel Eyes, it's the karmic redemption of two wise and deserving souls. --Jeff Shannon
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Customer Reviews
The mystery surrounding Catch is what drives this film, and Mandoki does an excellent job of presenting it. He creates an atmosphere that cloaks Catch in shadows, yet keeps him elusive, rather than sinister. Catch seems to float through life, calm and strangely prepossessing, yet detached and ambiguous. ...
As Sharon, Jennifer Lopez gives arguably her best performance since 1998’s “Out Of Sight,” in which she also played a cop. After her turn in “The Cell,” which wasn’t bad, and the forgettable fluff of “The Wedding Planner,” it’s good to see her in a challenging role, something she can really sink her teeth into. Which she does, and beautifully. It’s tough for an actress to make a character like this believable (Tyne Daly came close in “The Enforcer,” Jamie Lee Curtis was a disaster in “Blue Steel”), but Lopez pulls it off and proves that there’s more to her than just a pretty face. She makes Sharon a very real person, entirely three dimensional, emotionally complex and a woman who seems very capable of doing what she does for a living. She’s beautiful and tough, but sensitive as well, and most importantly, Lopez makes it convincing.
As Catch, Caviezel gives a memorable performance that really captures the essence of who this guy is. And his success with this character lies in the fact that he plays him straight, making him exactly who he is supposed to be rather than trying to shade him with some kind of “dark side” to enhance the mystery ensconcing him. He makes Catch a person you can readily embrace, who though perceived by others as enigmatic, is really only a man coping with a terrible secret and living his life as best he can. Catch is a unique character, in that he is cryptic and accessible at the same time; and Caviezel captures his spirit with astounding acuity and nuance. It’s an honest portrayal, devoid of any pretentiousness or falseness-- quite simply an excellent piece of acting.
The supporting cast includes Sonia Braga, Terrence Dashon Howard, Daniel Magder, Jeremy Sisto, J.J. Evans, Alfonso Arau, Victor Argo, Monet Mazur and Shirley Knight. Extremely well developed and delivered, “Angel Eyes” is a story of loss and love, and redemption; but more than that, it’s about “Time”-- how much we’re given and how we use what we have. Call it a reflection on mortality; it’s a film that will make you stop, think and consider-- about the way things are, and perhaps how they could be-- if you’d only take the time to make one of those “special” moments that last forever.
JLO plays a tough cop who is afraid of getting emotionally attached to people whom she encounters in her austere profession. Caviezel is a nice-guy extraordinnaire who is always looking to give people a hand. In their own way, both characters are out to help people, albeit via different approaches.
The film does an excellent job of engaging an important but often ignored facet of today's society: domestic battery. It happens with egregious frequency these days, yet it continues to be a subject that is "swept under the rug." This DVD is bold in its presentation of what is a very touchy theme.
Although JLO is usually best known for her appearance, in this film she demonstrates some credible acting talent. That was a bit surprising for me as I've only seen a few JLO movies to date. But, surprising in a positive way!
If you like love stories / chick flicks, this one is highly recommended. If you want a love story with a few twists, this one is even better. Most of all if you want a movie that deals with current & relevant themes that effect today's society, this one is a can't miss.
Who is this Catch, anyway? He walks the streets in a long overcoat, head down, lonely, depressed, looking like one of the angels in "Wings of Desire." Once a week be brings groceries to a shut-in named Elanora (Shirley Knight). The first time he sees Sharon, the Lopez character, he stops and stares at her through a restaurant window--not with lust or curiosity, but as if he's trying to repair some lost connection.
Lopez constructs Sharon, not out of spare parts from old cop movies, but in specific terms. She is a good cop from a technical point of view, firm, confident, brave. She wants to do well and punish evil, and only gradually do we learn that her orientation toward this career may have been formed early, when she called the cops on her abusive father (Victor Argo) as he beat up her mother (Sonia Braga). Her father has disowned her for that, her brother is still mad about it, and even her mother defends the man. He never did it again, after all, she argues, to which Sharon replies that perhaps he would have, if she hadn't acted. Fighting other lawbreakers may be her way of proving she was right in the first place.
The movie, directed by Luis Mandoki, has intriguing opening scenes. Is this a thriller? A supernatural movie? Who do the angel eyes belong to? An angel? Or does Catch only come on like a guardian angel while reserving secrets of his own? We are still asking these questions during a stretch of the film where Sharon is staring at a gun in her face, and her life is saved by . . . Catch.
They talk. It is like a verbal chess game. Catch doesn't simply answer questions, he parries them; his responses redefine the conversation, as an unexpected move changes the logic on the board. She invites him home. He pokes through drawers. She likes him. She begins to kiss him. He doesn't want to be kissed. They settle into a cat-and-mouse rhythm in which one and then the other flees, and one and then the other pursues. She follows him to his apartment. It is empty except for a futon. "This is it," he says. "I live here. I walk around town. That's it, except for how I feel about you."
But how does he feel about her? "Angel Eyes" is a complex, evasive romance involving two people who both want to be inaccessible. It's intriguing to see their dance of attraction and retreat. Meanwhile, secrets about both their family situations emerge; credit the screenwriter, Gerald DiPego, for not resolving the standoff with the father with an easy payoff.
There are lots of movies about cops because their lives lend themselves to excitement in a movie plot. They get involved with bad guys. They see action. They spend a lot of time drinking coffee in diners, because a booth in a diner provides an ideal rationale for a face-to-face two-shot that doesn't look awkward or violate body language. For these and other reasons "Angel Eyes" is a cop movie, but its real story doesn't involve the police, it involves damaged lives and the possibility that love can heal.
Jim Caviezel, who has been in movies for 10 years, emerged in "The Thin Red Line" (1998) and then played Dennis Quaid's son--the one who contacts his father with a radio signal that travels back in time--in "Frequency." Here he has an elusive, dreamy quality, using passivity as a mask for sharp, deep emotions. Since he apparently has no desire to meet anyone, why is he so attracted to Sharon? The answer has been waiting for us since the opening scene.
Lopez has a hard assignment here, remaining plausible in action scenes and touchy, slippery dialogue scenes. She and Caviezel play tricky notes, and so do the other actors, especially Victor Argo as a stubborn, hard man and Sonia Braga as his conflicted wife. The screenplay doesn't let them off the hook. And notice what simplicity and conviction the veteran Shirley Knight brings to her role, never straining for an effect, never punching up false emotions, embodying acceptance. This is a surprisingly effective film.
The film begins ominously enough: a fatal accident. Read more
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