City of Angels

Remember how I was talking about how Nic Cage was on a roll? Well, then there was this movie.

City of Angels (1998)

This is a remake of a wonderful movie made 10 years earlier by Wim Wenders called Wings of Desire. I watched it in high school and was mesmerized. Then, I heard there was a remake...so I watched it, doubtful that it would affect me the way the original had, but hopeful that it would at least be worth my time.

Unfortunately, it missed the mark.

Unfortunately, some bad things happened.

Unfortunately what originated as understated, effective drama...



became overstated, forgettable melodrama...



and Nick Cave...



became the Goo Goo Dolls...



and sexy trapeze artist Solveig Dommartin became quirky do-gooder doctor Meg Ryan.

...to name a few of these bad things.

Oh, America. Is there a more perfect example of a missed-the-point remake?

The most frustrating thing about this movie is not only that it is terrible, but that in the process of being terrible it takes all of the beautiful and interesting elements of the original movie and cheesifies them so much that it's hard to believe they could ever be anything other than cheesy. Which is so totally unfair. It's one thing to make a crappy remake of an awesome movie, but to make a crappy remake of an awesome movie that threatens to ruin a viewer's ability to appreciate the beauty of the original? That's just cruel.

So, really all I want to say is don't watch City of Angels, don't read anything more about it, and rent Wings of Desire someday.

And if you're unfortunate enough to have seen City of Angels already, I'm sorry. But PLEASE still give Wings of Desire a chance, even though the thought of watching another movie about the concept of angels on earth is probably making you twitchy. I promise. It's beautiful in that one.