The city that never sleeps never stops overdosing, heart attacking, brawling, shooting or trying to kill itself. Nicholas Cage, dressed as Frank but playing mostly himself, occasionally looks like an angel with his pale face and glowing white uniform.
Corpses look pale too, though.
Frank feels more affinity for them than us, and lets them drag him down rather than him bringing them out. The idea of a movie about the true salvation army sounds nice. Scorcese has given us shallow objects for us to pity, rather than flesh and blood for us to identify with. He used to get a high from saving people. Paradoxical, considering most of the dispatches he receives are on people who have willfully brought their problems crashing down on themselves by direct suicide attempts or other suicidal behavior.