Angel Heart (1987)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Harry Angel	Mickey Rourke
Louis Cyphre	Robert De Niro	½
Epiphany Proudfoot	Lisa Bonet	½
Margaret Krusemark	Charlotte Rampling
Ethan Krusemark	Stocker Fontelieu
Toots Sweet	Brownie McGhee
Dr. Fowler	Michael Higgins
Deimos	Pruitt Taylor Vince

Review

Helmed by the always ambitious and forceful Alan Parker, Angel Heart is a fairly successful cross between the classic hard-boiled detective genre and a voodoo-inspired mystery. The characterizations are good (especially the Rourke character) and the plot untangles intriguingly, even though one cannot help finding oneself a tad manipulated by Parker's trickery as he throws at us abundances of images intended to shock until we're ready to digest any which thinkable ending. The fast-paced cutting is more annoying than effective.

As a mystery, Angel Heart technically holds up, and Parker shows some flair along the way, but the film never seizes to feel contrived. The problem has more to do with the execution than the story, because for all Parker's meticulous sets, the film's heart (if you like) is stuck in the 1980s and not in the 1950s, best exemplified through Lisa Bonet who has no chance of bringing the necessary ancient quality to her role. Luckily she is at her most sexy, making her sex scene with Rourke surprisingly steamy. Alluring is also Robert De Niro, but his performance, while stylish, is ultimately too obvious and peripheral. Angel Heart is fascinating, but far from Parker's most consistent work. He would stay in the American south and make a better picture the following year.