Taglines: You won’t believe your eyes.
Angel Eyes movie storyline. While pursuing a suspect one night, Chicago Police officer Sharon Pogue nearly becomes the victim of a fatal ambush. A mysterious stranger, Catch 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.
Angel Eyes is a 2001 American romantic drama film directed by Luis Mandoki and starring Jennifer Lopez, Jim Caviezel, Jeremy Sisto, Sonia Braga, Terrence Howard, Monet Mazur, Shirley Knight, Daniel Magder, Victor Argo and Guylaine St-Onge. Written by Gerald Di Pego, the film is about a mysterious man who finds himself drawn to a female police officer with whom he forms a relationship that helps each to deal with trauma from their past. The original music score was composed by Marco Beltrami. The film received ALMA Award Nominations for Outstanding Actress (Jennifer Lopez) and Outstanding Director (Luis Mandoki).
In North America, the film opened at #4 in its opening weekend and grossed $24,174,218 domestically. All UK versions were cut to obtain a 15-rating. Warner Bros. had to remove the aggressive use of graphic language or the film would have been rated 18. The film ultimately grossed $29,715,606 worldwide, well below its $53 million budget.
Angel Eyes was filmed in the following locations:
— Chicago, Illinois, USA
— Elora, Ontario, Canada
— Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Although the story is set in Chicago, several very clear shots of the Toronto skyline, including Toronto’s very recognizable CN Tower, appear in the film, along with other recognizable Toronto landmarks, such as the Honest Ed’s storefront and a TTC streetcar. The scenes in and around Sharon’s parents home were filmed at the Playter Farmhouse, an historic building near Danforth Avenue in Toronto. Some scenes were filmed in the village of Elora, Ontario, at the Elora Quarry.
About the Story
On a wet rainy night in Chicago, police officer Sharon Pogue (Jennifer Lopez) is at the scene of a serious traffic accident holding the hand of one of the victims, pleading that he hold on and not give up. One year later, Sharon is frustrated with the men she dates, and has become estranged from her family for having her father arrested for beating her mother Josephine (Sonia Braga). Her father and brother, Larry (Jeremy Sisto), have never forgiven her, and her anger is affecting her police work.
A man known only as “Catch” (Jim Caviezel) wanders the streets of Chicago in a trance-like state, doing good deeds for strangers and neighbors. One day he sees Sharon at a diner and watches her from across the street, and she notices him watching her. Just then a car pulls up and blasts the diner with machine gun fire, and Sharon and her partner chase after the criminals. Sharon catches up with one criminal and in the ensuing struggle, he gets her gun and shoots her twice in the chest.
Seeing that she is protected by her bulletproof vest, he prepares to shoot her in the head, but Catch jumps the man and knocks the gun away, saving her life. That night, Sharon and Catch meet at a tavern and have a drink. A grateful Sharon tries to learn more about Catch, but he does not talk about himself. Sharon invites him to her apartment, and after some awkward moments between the two, they share a kiss. Catch abruptly stops and leaves the apartment, leaving Sharon confused.
The next evening Sharon finds a dandelion taped to her mailbox with Catch’s phone number. She calls and awkwardly invites him to breakfast at a coffee shop the next morning. When Sharon wakes up, she has second thoughts and calls Catch to cancel their breakfast date. Catch is already at the coffee shop and never gets the message. Upset at being stood up, he goes to Sharon’s apartment and criticizes her for not showing up for her “appointment”, and then storms out. Sharon follows him to his nearly empty apartment. Surprised at the living conditions, she demands to know more about him, but Catch refuses to reveal anything about his past. He only says that he is starting “from scratch”.
Following the advice of his mother-in-law Elanora, Catch calls Sharon and apologizes, and the two continue seeing each other. They go on a lakeside picnic in a state park and share a romantic swim, after which they make passionate love on the shore. In the coming days, Catch is there to comfort her after a family confrontation. His positive influence begins to show in her police work.
One night they go to a blues club, and after the band has played a number, Catch notices a trumpet sitting on the bandstand. He picks up the trumpet and starts to play a soulful version of the tune “Nature Boy”. As they’re leaving, the owner approaches him, calling him “Steve Lambert”, and asking where’s he’s been. Catch denies even knowing the man and walks away.
The next day, Sharon investigates the name Steven Lambert in the police files and discovers that he is the man whose hand she held at the site of a traffic accident a year earlier, and that Catch’s wife and child died in the accident. She goes to the house he abandoned after the accident and learns that he was a jazz musician and that the accident occurred on his son’s birthday, causing Catch to create a mental block.
Wanting to help Catch heal from his emotional wounds, she tries to talk to him about the accident and takes him to the cemetery to see the graves of his family, but he gets very upset and walks away. Sharon visits Elanora who is actually Catch’s former mother-in-law. Sharon is looking for some way of helping the man she loves, and Elanora encourages patience and tells Sharon that Catch will find his way in his own time.
Angel Eyes (2001)
Directed by: Luis Mandoki
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Jim Caviezel, Jeremy Sisto, Sonia Braga, Terrence Howard, Monet Mazur, Shirley Knight, Daniel Magder, Victor Argo, Guylaine St-Onge
Screenplay by: Gerald Di Pego
Production Design by: Dean Tavoularis
Cinematography by: Piotr Sobocinski
Film Editing by: Gerald B. Greenberg
Costume Design by: Marie-Sylvie Deveau
Set Decoration by: Enrico Campana
Art Direction by: Dennis Davenport
Music by: Marco Beltrami, Julius Robinson, Michael Sherwood
MPAA Rating: R for language, violence and a scene of sexuality.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: May 18, 2001
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