Rated R - Running Time: 1:42 - Released 5/18/01
ANGEL EYES
Rated R - Running Time: 1:42 - Released 5/18/01
Angel Eyes, written by Gerald Di Pego and directed
by Luis Mandoki, is one of those "big secret" films.
You know, the kind where a character has some deep, dark secret,
some long-past emotional scar that prevents him or her from opening
up to anyone, including the audience, until the triumphant breakthrough
scene where we all finally learn the reason why he or she is such
an insufferable jerk. I have to admit I don't care much for "big
secret" movies, and this is one of them. What's worse, this
film boasts not one but two such characters (played by
Jennifer Lopez and James Caviezel), and thanks to the pandering
nature of Di Pego's script and Mandoki's direction, it takes them
so long to reveal their psychological troubles that by the time
they do, we have long since lost interest in whether they live
of die, let alone whether they are able to finally make it in
the sack.
Anyone who saw The Wedding
Planner has seen Lopez's characterization for this movie.
Her character, Sharon Pogue, is a beautiful, reclusive, single
woman with a hard body and an attractive but seldom-seen smile,
who would like to fall in love but can't let her guard down enough
to do so. The only difference is, this time she's a Chicago cop
instead of a wedding planner, and is at odds with her screwy family
because of a history of abuse. Her romantic opposite, played by
Caviezel, is simply known as "Catch" since the terrible
accident which claimed the lives of his wife and child. If you've
seen Pay It Forward, then
you've seen his characterization: he walks around the city like
the drug addict he played in that film, dressed in a long, dark
coat and peering scarily at Sharon through coffee shop windows.
I think it's called "stalking." But the reason he's
following her is because she was the first responder to his accident
over a year ago. She administered the first aid that saved his
life, and he looked into her eyes...and recognized her from MTV.
But she doesn't remember him. So we see them meet (he saves her
from a gun-toting thug), they have a few dates, annoy each other
(and us) with their secretiveness, and begin the long trek toward
that inevitable revelation scene.
Lopez is not a bad actress, but it's hard to assess her talent based on second-rate films like this and Planner. Playing a character who is unwilling to come out of her shell is difficult to do without alienating the audience, and she doesn't seem to be able to pull it off very well. The same goes for Caveziel — his style is so subtle it's hard to see any kind of character behind Catch. He's just sort of a cryptic zombie, doing mildly strange things and speaking very little. If we don't get to know him, we can't get to like him, and we don't really get to know him until far too late. If Mandoki spent more time showing us what makes these people tick (like during the first hour when virtually nothing happens), on their histories and the nature of their crises, we might be more inclined to root for them as a couple. But he doesn't. So we aren't. **½