Angel Heart

1987 neo-noir

Rating: 14/20

Plot: A private detective is hired to find a missing war veteran and finds himself in the center of a mystery that is way over his head.

This is silly but stylish neo-noir with an ultra-cool and super-sexy Mickey Rourke. He's also super-sweaty, but that might be part of his appeal. The dude can work a match, and he's got this way of creating this character who is an everyman without seeming like a normal human being at all. My favorite quirk about his character, other than his willingness to wear a nose guard he's gifted, is how he's got a thing against chickens.

Robert De Niro is also in this, but he doesn't do much. He must have borrowed from the Brando contract where he gets to do all of his scenes while sitting. He twirls a cane, shows off obscene fingernail length, and gets a close-up while he's eating a hard-boiled egg.

This narrative kind of goes where you might expect it would, but that doesn't necessarily prepare you for the silliness of the denouement. A gratuitous sex scene, gratuitous voodoo, gratuitous elevators, and gratuitous Satan are all employed in an effort to pull this whole thing together.