Movie Club Edition Four: Angel Heart - SPOILERS

RanzB

RanzB

Honorary Master
Joined
Jul 4, 2007
Messages
31,343
Reaction score
16,860
Location
Durban
The discussion starts 30th March 2015

220px-Angel_Heart.jpg


Angel Heart is a 1987 American horror mystery film written and directed by Alan Parker, and starring Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, and Lisa Bonet. The film, adapted from the novel Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg, earned mostly positive critical reviews but was not a financial success.
Click to expand...

**A review is encouraged, and a star review out of 5 is preferred over a /10 score.

0 - Couldn't finish it was so bad
1- Horrible
2 - Very Bad
2.5 -OK <- just to be in the middle
3 - Good/Very Good
4- Excellent
5 - Perfect
 
I remember seeing this movie the first time and really enjoying it as a thriller/mystery. Watching it again, I became bored halfway through. I’m not sure if this is because I’ve become more critical of movies over the years, or because I knew what will happen at the end and also understood what was going on from the first minute.

I loved the use of music throughout the movie and the way it was used to build suspense but also to portray the different layers or reality throughout the movie. There were some scenes where it sounded like two songs were playing at the same time, tying in very cleverly with this theme of two people and two realities, in the same moment.
At the end it seems that the viewer can decide how evil a person Harry Angel himself may have been. Was it always Johnny Favourite slicing and dicing all those people, or did Harry enjoy it as well?

This movie is rife with symbolism, which is also a prevalent theme in Voodoo, where everything means something.
The fans that stop and start turning: ending and coming back to life or Harry turning into Johnny. The heart, being the main theme of the movie: cut out and eaten, cut out and left as a message, even the Bible had its heart cut out to hide bullets.

The five pointed star: which can indicate both good and evil…the list goes on and on.
All in all not a bad movie but not a great one. For me it tried to be too clever, with too much going on re. plot twists and “meaning”. MR was good, LB was hot and De Niro was, well De Niro.

3/5
 
This movie doesn't appeal to me at all, so I'm going to sit this week out. Sorry.
 
MightyQuin said:
I remember seeing this movie the first time and really enjoying it as a thriller/mystery. Watching it again, I became bored halfway through. I’m not sure if this is because I’ve become more critical of movies over the years, or because I knew what will happen at the end and also understood what was going on from the first minute.
Click to expand...

I think this is absolutely the case. The first half was actually very boring. I found my mind wondering quite often. As the story progressed I got more intruiged, but it was more predictable than what it should've been.

Nonetheless, I started to enjoy the movie more once he went south, or around that time, and enjoyed the reveal, with the flash backs that explained some of the earlier murders. Unfortunately the slow and tedious beginning makes me score it a little bit lower.

I'll give it a 3.5/5


on a related note: I watched The Canal last night, and they kinda employed the same "i didn't know i was doing it" tactic, which after watching Angel Heart, felt like piece of crap.
 
3.5/5 for me.

Would have been a 4, but I felt it unravelled slightly at the end. The set up and pacing was very well done the whole way through and then the 'reveal' was slightly ham-fisted and rushed. The elder Krusemark sort of rambled a bit. Some stuff weren't answered properly, either. Why did Lucifer make Johnny Favorite kill all those people? For fun? Can he only claim someone's soul if someone else kills the person? Why then not just get some other person to kill Favorite, as Lucifer 'guides' people to kill, as per his own words. It isn't clear.

Really enjoyed Mickey Rourke's performance, he adapted very well all through the movie, as he starts freaking out more and more and then goes over the deep end. Then there's calm acceptance and a sense of defeat.

De Niro makes a great Lucifer, too. Had a very... weighty presence, even when he didn't say much. The yellow eyes were a bit much, though, especially on the baby.

And woah, Lisa Bonet. :whistle:
 
MightyQuin said:
At the end it seems that the viewer can decide how evil a person Harry Angel himself may have been. Was it always Johnny Favourite slicing and dicing all those people, or did Harry enjoy it as well?
Click to expand...

I thought the movie made this pretty clear. Angel/Favorite was in a Lucifer-induced 'Fugue state' when he committed those murders. He didn't know about it at all. Although Favorite clearly didn't mind killing, as per his murder of Angel in the first place.

We don't really know anything about Harry Angel either, partly I suppose also symbolic as it amplifies the two-identities-in-one-person aspect you mentioned.

faniedry said:
on a related note: I watched The Canal last night, and they kinda employed the same "i didn't know i was doing it" tactic, which after watching Angel Heart, felt like piece of crap.
Click to expand...

Interesting how one can appreciate a specific plot style (that you didn't think specifically brilliant at first) more when you realise how badly it can be done.
 
OrbitalDawn said:
Why did Lucifer make Johnny Favorite kill all those people? For fun? Can he only claim someone's soul if someone else kills the person? Why then not just get some other person to kill Favorite, as Lucifer 'guides' people to kill, as per his own words. It isn't clear.
Click to expand...

I guess these sorts of questions can be asked of almost any part of the religion. Why? Why is there sin? Why would God allow this? But let's not make this about religion now :p

OrbitalDawn said:
Really enjoyed Mickey Rourke's performance, he adapted very well all through the movie, as he starts freaking out more and more and then goes over the deep end. Then there's calm acceptance and a sense of defeat.
Click to expand...

Mickey Rourke was awesome. Makes me think wtf went wrong with the guy to go from looking like that, to what he looks like now.

OrbitalDawn said:
De Niro makes a great Lucifer, too. Had a very... weighty presence, even when he didn't say much. The yellow eyes were a bit much, though, especially on the baby.
Click to expand...

Yellow eyes were a little 1980's right? lol

OrbitalDawn said:
And woah, Lisa Bonet. :whistle:
Click to expand...

If ever there was a black chick that can make a white racist change his mind, Lisa Bonet is it :D
 
OrbitalDawn said:
3.5/5 for me.

Would have been a 4, but I felt it unravelled slightly at the end. The set up and pacing was very well done the whole way through and then the 'reveal' was slightly ham-fisted and rushed. The elder Krusemark sort of rambled a bit. Some stuff weren't answered properly, either. Why did Lucifer make Johnny Favorite kill all those people? For fun? Can he only claim someone's soul if someone else kills the person? Why then not just get some other person to kill Favorite, as Lucifer 'guides' people to kill, as per his own words. It isn't clear.

Really enjoyed Mickey Rourke's performance, he adapted very well all through the movie, as he starts freaking out more and more and then goes over the deep end. Then there's calm acceptance and a sense of defeat.

De Niro makes a great Lucifer, too. Had a very... weighty presence, even when he didn't say much. The yellow eyes were a bit much, though, especially on the baby.
Click to expand...

I agree with all of this, but it was more of a 3/5 for me. A bit hokey, but that's probably because it hasn't aged all that well. I though Rourke was great, and Bonet was fantastic in her role. I know it was heavy handed, but I did enjoy the elevator scene that ran interspersed with the credit. Something about the way it was shot was appealing.


OrbitalDawn said:
And woah, Lisa Bonet. :whistle:
Click to expand...

I say goddamn..
 
faniedry said:
I guess these sorts of questions can be asked of almost any part of the religion. Why? Why is there sin? Why would God allow this? But let's not make this about religion now :p
Click to expand...

I think the killings were the devil trying to mentally torture him and make him suffer before claiming him.

faniedry said:
Mickey Rourke was awesome. Makes me think wtf went wrong with the guy to go from looking like that, to what he looks like now.
Click to expand...

Went back into boxing, got ****ed up, had a horrible plastic surgeon.
 
Randhir said:
I agree with all of this, but it was more of a 3/5 for me. A bit hokey, but that's probably because it hasn't aged all that well. I though Rourke was great, and Bonet was fantastic in her role. I know it was heavy handed, but I did enjoy the elevator scene that ran interspersed with the credit. Something about the way it was shot was appealing.
Click to expand...

Yeah, also enjoyed that. The copy I watched didn't have it, but apparently at the end of the credits you can hear Lucifer saying "Harry... Johnny", sort of indicating he got them both in the end.
 
OrbitalDawn said:
Yeah, also enjoyed that. The copy I watched didn't have it, but apparently at the end of the credits you can hear Lucifer saying "Harry... Johnny", sort of indicating he got them both in the end.
Click to expand...

Didn't hear that either. I thought his part was overdone, but I enjoyed his performance to a degree. He was still DeNiro.
 
Randhir said:
I agree with all of this, but it was more of a 3/5 for me. A bit hokey, but that's probably because it hasn't aged all that well. I though Rourke was great, and Bonet was fantastic in her role. I know it was heavy handed, but I did enjoy the elevator scene that ran interspersed with the credit. Something about the way it was shot was appealing.
Click to expand...

going............down? :D
 
Tracked down the rating scale from the other thread...I lost track of what the numbers mean.

Angel Heart gets 2.5/5 for me. Some really nice atmospherics and acting but overall, not as cleanly-executed as it could have been...some of the exposition at the end was clunky (I had flashbacks to Colonel Sanders's speeches in the Matrix movies when the gumbo dude was chooning his schit). That sequence almost felt like, "oh crap, we need to drop alot of information quick - look how much time we spent meandering around in Act 1".

Will post a more complete review after work and also reply on the other discussion points.
 
Last edited:
Neoprod said:
Tracked down the rating scale from the other thread...I lost track of what the numbers mean.
Click to expand...

There's a similar one in the OP in this thread.

Neoprod said:
Angel Heart gets 3/5 for me. Some really nice atmospherics and acting but overall, not as cleanly-executed as it could have been
Click to expand...

Pretty much my opinion too. I hated the exposition at times.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X