“The deeper you look…the more you will find.”

I was fooled - I’ll admit that upfront. I believed the advance hype I read about the film and thought there was a supernatural element involved. Half an hour into the film I realized my mistake. There wasn’t anything supernatural about “Angel Eyes,” clearly it was more of a science fiction story. Jim Caviezel’s character, Catch, was obviously sent to Earth from a distant planet. He was a pod person, here to infiltrate the Chicago Police Department by corrupting the intelligent, independent Sergeant Sharon Pogue (Jennifer Lopez aka J-Lo). What other explanation could there be for an otherwise responsible, logical person to fall in love so quickly with a man who wouldn’t disclose his name, his past, or why he chooses to always dress in a trench coat and t-shirts? Why would a perfectly normal, healthy woman - who also happens to be a cop - throw caution to the wind and overlook even the basic disclosure of a real name? It had to be some form of mind-control practiced by aliens bent on mating with earthlings. Or, as it turns out, it had to be love. A concept that upon listening to these two, seems as strange as alien possession.

Sgt. Sharon Pogue is a tough beat cop. We learn early on that her family life is nothing to smile about. Seems the men in her family like to abuse their women, a trait that has created an estrangement between Sharon and her dad, and eventually from her only brother. Her co-workers treat her like one of the guys and she seems content with that. She’s lacking a personal life, though not from trying. She hates having to answer all the standard date questions about her work. Her dates never ask her what it’s like to help someone in need; all they ever want to know about is whether she’s had to use her gun. She’d much rather be on the job than making small talk.

Through flashbacks, and a series of shots of Catch helping people throughout the city, we’re told that Catch is a strange dude who walks the city alone, keeping an eye on Sharon and doing good deeds for complete strangers. We also learn that Sharon has vivid memories of helping a car accident victim. How the two go together isn’t explained at first, but you just know from the importance placed on the flashbacks that there is some significant connection.

While catching a quick bite at a local eatery, Sharon and a group of her fellow officers are targets of a driveby shooting. Officers are wounded and it’s up to Sharon and her partner, Robby (Terrence Howard), to bring down the perps. No slouch in the fighting and chasing department, Sharon pursues one of the assailants as her partner stops to handcuff the other. Taking off without her partner isn’t a wise move. She’s left to pursue the armed suspect into an area with lots of hiding spaces. Sharon chases him down but ends up on the losing end of a physical altercation, shot twice in the chest but saved by her bulletproof vest. Pinned to the ground, looking into the barrel of a gun, Sharon is all but dead until Catch appears out of nowhere. He attacks the gunmen, knocking the gun away, and holding him down until Sharon’s partner is able to take over.

Catch is dark, mysterious, and apparently, Sharon’s guardian angel. How else to explain his appearance at that exact moment, at that location? As a thank you, Sharon invites Catch to meet her for a drink after work. He shows up, quiet, somber and with a smile that could melt the coldest heart. Sharon can’t get much info from him other than the name Catch, and that he helped her because he appreciates officers and their work at making the streets safe. Catch’s first conversations with Sharon come off as strained, awkward, and reserved. He doesn’t want to disclose anything personal, preferring to start from scratch - as though he had no life up until the moment they met. Catch acts almost as though he’s never spoken to another human being, or had much personal contact with members of the opposite sex (their conversations are so surface level and stilted that the assumption that he’s an alien isn’t really that bizarre). The two have an instant connection, an almost tangible bond that takes Sharon by surprise. Catch has saved her life, and beyond being grateful, she’s attracted both emotionally and physically to her savior.

Too much more info and I’d be giving away the entire story. Suffice it to say that Catch and Sharon are two lonely, complicated people in need of what the other has to offer. “Angel Eyes” turned out to be different than I expected, but that’s not a bad thing. The love story is central to the entire movie without being too cloying or sappy. Two different actors may have taken this movie to other levels, but I felt Jennifer Lopez has never been better cast in a film. Jim Caviezel’s performance is understated, perfectly capturing Catch’s obvious pain and longing. Lopez and Caviezel have a wonderful on-screen chemistry that was surprising in its intensity. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this is a must-see for romance fans, however it never disappointed me and it kept my interest for the entire film.

About The Production

After a year in development, screenwriter Gerald DiPego (30 films including “Message in a Bottle,” “Phenomenon,” “Instinct,” “Sharkey’s Machine”), director Luis Mandoki (”White Palace,” “Born Yesterday,” “When a Man Loves a Woman,” “Message in a Bottle“), and producer Mark Canton learned that none other than Jennifer Lopez was interested in the film. Chairman and CEO of Franchise Pictures, Elie Samaha, entered the picture and gave the go-ahead to make the film. Recalls Samaha, “When Mark told me of Jennifer Lopez’s commitment to this film and her passion for the story, my response was, ‘Let’s do it’.”

The idea behind the film was to explore a reality-based story of ordinary human beings who personify qualities that might be considered angelic. Producer Mark Canton recalls, “We considered a number of ideas but this is the one I was most excited about. It was very original from the inception. I especially liked the inner-city police beat as our setting and the way the two leading characters were developed as brave but damaged souls.”

Director Luis Mandoki credits his stars for conveying the depth of emotion in their characters with the right subtlety. “Both Jennifer and Jim understood immediately…Their chemistry is phenomenal.” It was Lopez herself who suggested Jim Caviezel for the role of Catch. She was impressed with his ability to convey emotions through his intense gaze and expressive eyes. Caviezel was about to start another film but met with Mandoki and there was no question that he wanted to do “Angel Eyes.” “Angel Eyes” is Caviezel’s first love story. Caviezel states, “Truth is, I just look for great material and this was great material. There’s a wonderful mood to this film that’s very unusual. It’s kind of an old-fashioned story in a contemporary setting.”

Rebecca Murray
Hollywood Movies Guide

Jack Elgin is the European editor of The Economist, which is based in London, England. Jack has a wife named Maria and three kids named Joanne, Julia, and Andrew. Jack subtly changes the family vacation from a lazy week of Mediterranean fun and sun in Corfu, Greece, to a tour of India, because of a story he has to cover. Maria is not as impressed by this as the kids are. Jack himself envisioned a chance to simultaneously work an easy reporting assignment and spend a little quality time with his family. But on the way to India, the airplane, a 747 owned by AM Air, an American airline, makes an unscheduled stopover in Limassol Cyprus, because of a mechanical problem. After a while of waiting inside the Limassol airport, everyone gets back on the plane — which is then hijacked by a group of terrorists known as the August 15th Movement, led by a Serbian man named Ivanic Loyvek and his right-hand man Karadan Maldic. And they are demanding $50,000,000 from the US State Department in one hour, or everyone on the airplane will die. The demand is met, and Loyvek and Maldic start releasing the women and children, with the men to go last. But as soon as a front passenger door is opened, a local police team gunning for the terrorists opens fire. The flight attendants frantically open the rest of the airplane’s doors and start getting passengers out, but the terrorists start killing passengers, leading to an explosion. Maria, Joanne, and Julia get out of the airplane, and then Jack, holding Andrew, gets out — only to watch Maria, Joanne, and Julia get shot by the terrorists. Jack tries to hide Andrew’s face so he can’t see it. Maria and Joanne are dead, and Julia is still alive — but Julia burns to death while crying for help. Jack and Andrew survive. In all, a total of 15 passengers die, and Loyvek and Maldic, the surviving terrorists, escape, knowing that they now have the $50,000,000. The hijacking would never have ended this way if the police team had waited until after the passengers were released from the airplane before getting trigger happy. Back in London, an absolutely devastated Jack is told that the terrorists were captured, but they were released and deported secretly, with no charges and no arrest, the result of some awfully compromised politics. Jack is understandably enraged that Loyvek and Maldic got off scot-free. While helping Andrew cope, Jack tries all the legal ways to ensure justice for his family, but to no avail. Jack even pays a visit to Henry Davidson, a CIA agent who works at the American Embassy in London. Davidson tells Jack that there’s little that can be done. Obviously, the American and British governments are completely impotent when it comes to going after Loyvek and Maldic, so Jack has absolutely no choice in the matter. He must do it himself. With the help of his ex-intelligence operative friend Kate Stockton, who is well-schooled in the finer points of international intelligence, Jack becomes a one-man anti-terrorist squadron, searching for Loyvek and Maldich. Dogging Jack’s trail is FBI agent Jules Bernard, who’s cooperating with Scotland Yard on anti-terrorist activities, and who suspects that Jack is the man who has been killing anyone involved in the hijacking. But as it turns out, Jules is on Jack’s side, and he’s willing to help Jack make those responsible pay for the deaths of his family and the other people who died in Cyprus. Written by Todd Baldridge