She didn't believe in angels until she fell in love with one.

Sad endings suck. When I see a movie I want something escapist, something exciting, funny or inspirational. Sometimes I even like to be made to cry (not that I ever would you understand) but I just hate sad endings. However, maybe, just maybe City of Angels has an excuse.

The film stars Nicholas Cage and Meg (babe!) Ryan, along with Life, Love and Death. The latter three deserve star billing as they are rarely off-screen, albeit largely invisible, much like Cage is (initially at least) to Ryan. Cage is an angel, but has no wings, no halo and no white dress. Angels it seems, dress entirely in black trenchcoats and are not the spirits of dead people but beings in their own right. They have no sense of touch, taste, or smell. They exist in their thousands all around us, silently comforting the sick and the dying - helping those in pain or despair. They also have a strange penchant for siting in rather unusual places.

It is a major credit to Director Brad Silberling that he has avoided the opportunity to have the angels walking through walls, appearing out of the ether or otherwise appearing overly burdened on the special effects front. This lack of in-your-face special effects is compensated by some really attractive photography. Some of the sequences showing Angels at every corner and atop every building are particularly nice. You are given a real feeling of being watched over, no matter where you are. I have found myself looking round suddenly for the last couple of days in the hope of catching my angel unawares.

Ryan plays heart surgeon Maggie, a young and extremely able heart surgeon. Her loss of a patient at the start of the movie and the consequential emotional toll it inflicts upon her sets the tone for her character. It is also what first attracts Cage’s Angel ‘Seth’ to her. He has to deal with death on a constant basis (as he goes to collect the 'souls' of the dying) but also seems fascinated by what life is really like. He keeps notes of what his 'clients' tell him are the best moments of their lives. In Maggie he sees someone who tries to blur the uncomfortably hard line that exists between life and death, someone who fights to stop him from doing his job. (I guess he also notices that as a doctor she is jaw droppingly wealthy and as Meg Ryan, trouser droppingly gorgeous.)

Things are clearly not going to be easy for Maggie and Seth. In terms of a relationship this could perhaps be regarded as somewhat challenging. Maggie can't see Seth and Seth can't touch Maggie. Maggie can touch Seth, but he can't feel anything. It all sounds like a recipe for disaster.

You of course, find yourself willing the two of them together. I was fascinated to understand why Maggie found Seth so appealing (when she could see him at all that is). Lets face it, he has terrible taste in clothes; no obvious means of financial support, a nasty habit of vanishing at the slightest provocation and lets be honest, the manner of one of those crazy people who seem to occupy subway cars throughout the world (the ones who are compelling to watch, but catastrophically embarrassing if you catch their eye.) The only things that seem appealing about him are the fact that he doesn't eat, which should make him cheap to keep and he doesn't bleed which means he is ideal for grating cheese. Maggie of course, thinks he is wonderful but there is no explaining women.

The plot develops along the lines you would expect for a romance but is neatly kept from ever becoming too ponderous or slushy (I hate slushy). This is particularly interesting as the full-featured DVD contains a number of cut scenes, together with a commentary by the films director and editor. Unusually, these have not been spliced back into the movie, which retains its original theatrical cut but are kept separate. Watching these sequences is a fascinating insight into the cruel world of the editing room. Although the sections shown can only be a fraction of the thousands of feet of film that only made it as far as the cutting room floor, they demonstrate how just a few little slices can remove a whole sub-plot (in this case between Seth and Maggie's beautiful dog) and the painful decisions that have to be taken to remove them. Too much detail and the movie becomes overly complex, too little and you can lose plot. One disadvantage of adding cut scenes in this fashion is that you get to make your own judgement about whether they should have been cut. Personally, I would have left the dog bits in!

The greatest surprise to me was in the ending. Sad endings always make me feel robbed. I don't mind being left emotionally drained but often a sad ending feels like a bit of a rip-off. You invest your emotions in fictional characters and then find them stealing the little part you gave away. On reflection, there is a well-justified reason for the way City of Angels ends. It reminds us all that pretty much everything we have, or strive towards is transitory. We should not hesitate to do anything but live our lives to the fullest.

Credit should also go to Dennis Franz for his portrayal of Gabriel Messenger, a glutinous, fun loving fellow, to whom there seems to be more than is at first revealed.

Any mention of City of Angels would not be complete without reference to the fabulous music. The DVD is worth the purchase price for this alone. The film features music by, Alanis Morissette, and Peter Gabriel and the big hit for the Goo Goo Dolls: Iris. This is excellent stuff.

Unfortunately, for a movie with such good music I felt that 5.1 surround was something of a disappointment I was conscious of the lack of any surround sound at all, although I am assured that it really is there. I accept that City of Angels is no place for fancy audio effects but we live in a world where sound surrounds us and I see no reason that movies should not reflect this. Video is crisp, clean and tidy and does the excellent photography justice.

In short, I loved the movie, sad ending or not. My only hope is that my Angel looks like Ryan, not Cage.