Blu-Ray Review: Underrated ‘Angel Heart’ With Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro

CHICAGO – Some movies from my youth have not aged as well as memory would have me believe. We’ve all been there. A movie we thought was great when we were a teenager looks downright awful with the passage of time. I was worried that my memory of Alan Parker’s “Angel Heart” was through similar rose-colored glasses. Worry not. “Angel Heart” is even better than you remember.

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0

Featuring Mickey Rourke in his absolute prime, Robert De Niro when he was still a master of the form, and masterful direction by Alan Parker, “Angel Heart” is a fantastic modern noir, a film of which the overall quality was overshadowed by the scandal surrounding the sexy performance by Lisa Bonet (when she was supposed to be giving off a family image on the hit “The Cosby Show”). Rourke plays a down-and-out Brooklyn detective named Harry Angel who is hired by the mysterious Louis Cypher to track down a singer named Johnny Favorite.

Angel Heart was released on Blu-Ray on November 24th, 2009.
Photo credit: Lionsgate Home Video

Harry’s journey takes him through the streets of Harlem, down to New Orleans, and even into the underworld of voodoo. Naturally, when an evil-looking man named Lou Cypher (Lucifer) hires you, it might be a good idea to think twice about taking the assignment. More visually confident and captivating than you remember and featuring a performance from Rourke at his absolute prime, “Angel Heart” is an atmospheric, moody, thrilling gem that most people have forgotten. Catch up with it.

“Angel Heart” has been upgraded to 1080p with its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio and accompanied by a stellar English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track. Special features include an audio commentary with director Alan Parker, an introduction by Parker, selected scene commentary with Mickey Rourke, interview with Parker, interview with Rourke, and the film’s theatrical trailer.

[12]	By BRIAN TALLERICO [13] Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com [12]