enjoyable, not fully successful

Rating: Null/10 (12 September 2003)

From Cary Grant to Nicholas Cage, it's a longtime Hollywood tradition (or cliche) to portray angels as noble but fun-deprived beings who long to be human and who envy the mortals in the story. This time the role goes to Brad Pitt, and the sole twist is...he's not an ordinary angel, he is The Angel of Death. Pitt enters Anthony Hopkins' life not to bring divine wisdom and help, but to end Hopkins' human existence. This concept has potential, but the theme of "death as a blessing" or "death as transition to another reality" was barely touched on. (More on this below).
Many good elements here -- fine actors, FABULOUS music, top cinematography, solid direction. The basic story idea -- about mortality adding extra spice to life and poignancy to love -- comprises a profound and timeless theme.
3 hour length in and of itself is no problem (nobody complains that Lawrence of Arabia is too long). The real problem is, an even stronger emotional payoff and greater romantic thrill could have been achieved with tighter writing and brisker pacing. Many repetitive scenes and speeches should have been trimmed or cut entirely.
Example: check out the key thematic scene with the father and daughter in the helicopter, where Hopkins tells her to seek "lightning" in her life. Hopkins is made to repeat his 1-minute speech 3 different times with only slight variations! The sibling rivalry subplot could have been axed; nobody would have missed it...etc.
Pitt's role as an otherworldly spirit who is awkwardly learning to be human led him to choose an odd acting style. Some like it, others loathe it. My problem is not Pitt's acting, but the way the role is written: Death is virtually omniscient about some things including minutiae of human experience (this is perfectly believable for an immortal, godlike being), yet at the same time Death is ignorant and wide-eyed innocent as a newborn babe about other very simple and universal human experiences (this is not credible and was mined for very weak humor).
In this movie, as in most others featuring the Hollywood cliche about "angels who long to be human," the filmmakers reveal a certain poverty of imagination...regrettable in a fantasy, where imagination should be given full play. There is a consistent failure in these films to even consider, much less appreciate, the possibility that a transcendent, metaphysical, purely spiritual existence could be MORE satisfying (and more exciting and more full of love) than a physical, human life based on the senses.
Such a premise would not ruin the drama but would heighten it. For example, Meet Joe Black would have worked better if Death were somehow FORCED to be human for a while, hated it, and saw himself as the Great Liberator who was freeing humanity to transition to a higher, better existence. (In this film Death seems to regard himself as a sort of cosmic elevator attendant: his job is necessary but morally neutral.) Death might then progress from mere intellectual omniscience about every aspect of human existence, to an emotional appreciation that even the meager perceptions and intellects of human beings are capable of love and nobility. (Meet Joe Black came about halfway toward achieving this, but didn't quite make it.)
All the humans who meet Death should see him as a fearful, terrifying scourge. As the film was actually produced, only one character had that reaction (the Jamaican lady in the hospital, and she quickly got over her fear). The other characters in MJB who realized his true identity responded as if Death, in performing his basic function, was the school principal announcing that, regrettably, recess time is over.
In sum: portraying the angel character as one who strongly preferred his otherworldly existence would have sharpened conflicts, deepened the characters' motivations, and eliminated many inconsistencies. It would have invested the Death vs. Hopkins conflict with greater stakes, and made the love story even more poignant.
(By the way: if you personally met the Angel of Death, don't you think you would ask even ONE question about the nature of the afterlife? Even if he refused to answer, somebody in this movie should have asked!)