Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Angel Heart Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 25, 2009

Alan Parker's unsettling "Angel Heart" (1987) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment. Unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on the disc. The film is presented uncut. Not subtitled in English. Region-B "locked".

Dark dreams?

Alan Parker’s Angel Heart is set in the '50s, but it is clearly a product of the '80s. It mixes mystery with neo-noir, boasts a lush soundtrack -- courtesy of Trevor Jones who left his stamp on such genre hits as Curtis Hanson’s Bad Influence and Harold Becker’s Sea of Love -- and has Mickey Rourke in his prime playing a jaded private eye. If all of this does not scream “Product of the '80s and Proud of It” to you, then you clearly were not around when the decade peaked and Angel Heart was released in theaters across America.

Here’s the film’s plot: Private eye Harry Angel (Rourke) is hired by a wealthy gentleman, Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro), to locate Johnny Favorite, a band musician who has disappeared from the face of the earth. Cyphre needs the missing man to settle an old debt. He pays Angel $5,000 and instructs him to contact him as soon as he has anything to report.

Angel begins looking for the musician in New York City, but then quickly ends up in New Orleans. Here he meets a motley crew of characters that knew him well, including a corrupt drug addict with a medical license (Michael Higgins, Wanda), an aging fortuneteller (Charlotte Rampling, Swimming Pool), and blues guitarist with a murky past (Brownie McGhee, Blues Under The Skin). While asking questions, Angel also meets and then begins seeing the daughter (Lisa Bonet) of a woman that Favorite supposedly once had an affair with. When one by one the people he has talked to begin dying, Angel concludes that Favorite is following him and eliminating everyone that could clue him in on his whereabouts.

Based on William Hjortsberg’s novel Falling Angel, Parker’s Angel Heart is one seriously atmospheric film. It is also a somewhat explicit film that years ago earned the dreaded X rating in America. When the film was submitted for classification, a completely unoffensive and actually quite short lovemaking scene with Rourke and Bonet apparently gave American censors a big headache, so to get the more respectable R rating its creators agreed to recut it. (This release contains the original uncensored version of the film, though rather ironically this time there is another silly cut on it that was done to appease the British censors. The cut is only a few seconds and wipes out 'animal violence' involving chickens that someone at the BBFC found unbearably 'disturbing').

The strength of the film comes from its ability to very effectively misdirect and mislead. Indeed, its story is carefully constructed to keep one guessing until the very end. Even then, however, when all of its scattered pieces are properly aligned, a few strategically positioned twists leave the door open for multiple interpretations of the final act.

The sense of paranoia that permeate the film, however, is what shapes up its identity and leaves a lasting impression. Immediately after the opening credits disappear the viewer begins to feel that Angel is on a genuinely creepy mission that is getting even creepier as he peels away the layers of a mystery that overwhelms his mind, and the closer he comes to the truth, the more his anxiety becomes the viewer’s anxiety.

Rourke has received plenty of criticism during the years for his choice of roles. In fact, there are many film critics who still dislike him because of his antics off the camera rather than his acting in front of it. In Angel Heart, however, he is the heart and soul of the film. (No pun intended).

Angel Heart Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Alan Parker's Angel Heart arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Optimum Home Entertainment.

The British distributors must have used an old master for their Blu-ray release of Angel Heart. I detected a few tiny flecks popping up here and there, mild contrast fluctuations and, occasionally, mild edge-enhancement. Generally speaking, the color scheme is convincing. Blues, reds, browns, grays, blacks and whites are natural looking. Detail and clarity seem a bit inconsistent. When blown through a digital projector Angel Heart remains pleasingly stable around the edges -- there are no frame shifting issues to report either. Macroblocking is also not a serious issue of concern. To sum it all up, I believe that without a serious restoration this is probably the best Angel Heart could look at the moment. For the record, the Blu-ray disc contains the uncut 113 minute version of the film. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" disc. Therefore, unless you have a native Region-B or Region-Free player, you won't be able to access its content).

Angel Heart Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English LPCM 2.0. I opted for the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and later on did a few random comparisons with the English LPCM 2.0 track for the purpose of this review.

The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track certainly won't test the muscles of your audio system. A quick comparison between the SDVD and this Blu-ray release, however, should reveal plenty of notable improvements in the audio department. The wailing sax, for example, is notably crisper. The famous ritual scene also sounds a lot better on the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. This being said, there is very little activity in the surround channels. The bass is also not too energetic.

The dialog is crisp, clear and easy to follow. Furthermore, there are no disturbing pops, cracks, or hissings that I detected. There are not balance issues either. For the record, Optimum Home Entertainment have not provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The English LPCM 2.0 track is actually rather good. During specific scenes – a good example is the scene at the end of the film where Harry Angel takes the elevator – the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track sounds richer, but, dynamically, the two tracks are quite similar. The dialog on the English LPCM 2.0 track is as crisp and easy to follow as it is on the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track.

Angel Heart Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray disc.

Angel Heart Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

During the years, I have gone through a number of different VHS and DVD releases of Alan Parker's atmospheric Angel Heart. I can assure you that each and everyone of them had its fair share of problems. This Blu-ray disc may not be the definitive release of the film, but it certainly is the only one I would recommend that you consider. Furthermore, I don't believe Angel Heart would be fully restored any time soon; it would be awhile before the film is given the treatment it deserves. With that in mind, fans of Angel Heart should consider Optimum Home Entertainment's disc.