Most, if not all, of ‘Wings of Desire’ is in here (they even re-create the library scene), it’s just buried inside a not very good romance. Nic Cage is at his most awkward and childish. He does a lot of sad boy staring. I can see what he’s going for, but it doesn’t really work.
‘City of Angels’ is more about death and romance than ‘Wings of Desire’ was, which makes this re-interpretation more depressing, downbeat, and dour (the very first scene is the death of a child). Dennis Franz basically steals the entire show as Nathaniel Messenger, our Peter Falk stand-in. Franz brings the same kind of warm, friendly charm to the role as Falk did.
Brad Silberling (‘Casper’, ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’, ‘Land of the Lost’) directs. This is his best feature. The first 58 minutes are the strongest part, as the romance slowly starts to consume everything afterwards. Those first 58 minutes strikes a good balance of adapting the original and doing its own thing.
Dana Stevens penns the screenplay, and it’s not great. There are lots of sappy, shmaltzy, and cheesy dialogue. The parts with the angels are handled well enough, though. Stevens penned ‘For the Love of the Game’ and ‘The Woman King’, and co-wrote ‘Safe Haven’ and ‘Life or Something Like It’.
In the end, ‘City of Angels’ uses the bones of ‘Wings of Desire’ to tell a not-great tear-jerker. ‘City of Angels’ is far from a bad film, it touches greatness at times but lacks the strength to stay there. Fans of romances will likely get the most out of this movie. If you want to watch a better version of this film, just stick with the original.
3.5 STARS
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