DVD Movie Rating for: Angel Eyes

3 out of 5

Movie Plot of: Angel Eyes

While pursuing a suspect one night, Chicago Police officer Sharon Pogue (Jennifer Lopez) nearly becomes the victim of a fatal ambush until a mysterious stranger, Catch (Jennifer Lopez) intervenes, disarms the assassin and saves Sharon's life. Is it a stroke of luck? A twist of fate? Or just a concerned citizen who happened to pass by at the right time and wasn't afraid to get involved? Maybe, But Sharon and Catch have met once before. As the two fall in love, they discover the truth about each other and are forced to deal with the secrets from their past.

Sharon Pogue (Jennifer Lopez) is a Chicago police officer who ends up being in the worst of situations as she is looking right into the barrel of a loaded gun while pursing a drive-by suspect, as the trigger is about to go off, a mysterious man named "Catch" (Caviezel) rescues Sharon by disarming the suspect. As Sharon is dealing with demons from her past and forming a relationship with "Catch", she's also unaware that this isn't the first meeting between Sharon and "Catch".

DVD Production Details of: Angel Eyes

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, James Caviezel

Director: Luis Mandoki

Format: Color, Widescreen, Closed-captioned, Dolby

Studio: Warner Studios

DVD Release Date: February 4, 2003
DVD Features:
Commentary by director Luis Mandoki

Widescreen anamorphic format

Cast of the movie: Angel Eyes

• Jennifer Lopez .... Sharon Pogue
• James Caviezel .... Catch (Steven Lambert) (as Jim Caviezel)
• Jeremy Sisto .... Larry Pogue, Sr
• Terrence Dashon Howard .... Robby
• Sonia Braga .... Josephine Pogue
• Victor Argo .... Carl Pogue
• Monet Mazur .... Kathy Pogue
• Shirley Knight .... Elanora Davis
• Daniel Magder .... Larry Pogue, Jr
• Guylaine St-Onge .... Annie Lambert (as Guylaine St. Onge)
• Connor McAuley .... Max Lambert
• Jeremy Ratchford .... Ray Micigliano
• Peter MacNeill .... Lieutenant Dennis Sanderman
• Eldridge Hyndman .... Jamal

Photo Gallery of the movie: Angel Eyes

Click on one of the thumbnails to see the full size, high resolution photographs

Reviews of the movie: Angel Eyes

Angel Eyes is a mature and levelheaded drama about real people with authentic emotions, clawing through their own hurt and confusion toward a hopeful recovery. In a subtly effective performance as Chicago cop Sharon Pogue, Jennifer Lopez is both gutsy and vulnerable, using her badge as a shield against a past incident of domestic violence that left her estranged from her family and alone with her conviction that good deeds are not always rewarded. This leaves her open to the mysterious appeal of Catch (Jim Caviezel), a haunted loner whose slightly creepy demeanor is merely the cautious façade of a man who, ultimately, has as much to offer Sharon as she does to him. They connect--he saves her life, just as she had once saved his--and Angel Eyes proceeds to reveal the true and fateful depth of their love.

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

Luis Mandoki's "Angel Eyes" begins as a melodramatic tragedy that feels as if it's missing something. Its centerpiece is a love story between an unlikely couple who save each other's lives under different circumstances. At first, the film plays with interesting ideas about fate, love, destiny, mystery, and the past, but does so with stunning blandness. The male lead, James Caviezel, plays Catch, a mysterious character with an absorbing, revealing past. But his inceptive existence switches back and forth between two negative impressions: Catch is either a balmy character, or Caviezel delivers a boring, uninteresting performance. To my pleasant surprise, however, by the time the movie reaches its emotionally effective climax, it proves these original perceptions to be wrong.

Jennifer Lopez stars as a tough Chicago cop named Sharon Pogue. She patrols the crime-ridden South Side of Chicago with her police buddies, including her partner and friend Robby (Terrence Dashon Howard). In the same neighborhood lives Catch-who sleeps in an empty apartment and delivers goodwill to many around him. He wanders around the area as if he is in some kind of existential daze, thus some believe him to be a lunatic, but for most, he appears to be a peculiar but harmless figure.

Both of these characters have undergone deep emotional struggles. The vast majority of the conflict in "Angel Eyes" lies inside the characters. I do not want to give away any of the movie. Therefore, I must be terse in my explanation. Experiencing violence early in her childhood, Sharon has taken a stand against her father's abusive ways and is still paying the price; her entire family disowned her. However, her parents have invited Sharon to an upcoming marriage celebration. Should she attend, forcing her to come to terms with inner demons and face her father for the first time in years?

"Angel Eyes" provides no easy answers for its characters. Sharon's private and public lives are well developed and intriguing. The film gives her a lot of dimension-I especially like her family related aspects. I will not reveal any more information about Catch; based on the advertisements, his different people will have different expectations of his identity. By explaining anymore about him, I risk giving away a large portion of the movie. Although the film does not contain startling identity twists or surprising ninety degree turns, it is very deliberate about what information is revealed at what time-thus the lack of information in the beginning. "Angel Eyes" deserves to reveal itself on a full scale, rather than me giving its plot away right here and now.

Luis Mandoki has a certain knack with directing love stories that disclose their plot at the perfect moment. In 1999, his film "Message in a Bottle" examined another troubled soul coming to terms with his future. He does the same kind of thing with "Angel Eyes." "He's keeping a lid on his demons as Sharon does with hers, explains Mandoki about the character's behaviors. "It's only when they fall in love and then risk losing that love that they are forced to examine who they really are, present and past."

Screenwriter Gerald DiPego creates character's who connect with the audience. The story is about "the conflict between isolation and connection," says DiPego. "We become isolated because we're afraid of opening up to each other, especially these days. On the other hand, there's a longing inside of us to connect. I think our salvation lies in keeping connected."

As "Angel Eyes" concludes, each of the two character's has come to terms with their troubles and past. What they discover, I will leave up to you to find out. This is an uncommonly absorbing picture because we believe these characters live in our world, not in face their most private and deepest fears, and, although nothing is truly solved by the end of the movie, for Sharon and Catch, for better or worse, their problems become a different, more fulfilling internal battle. some movie fantasy. So often movies end with a fluffy, soft attitude for their characters-but not in "Angel Eyes."