Angel's Dance

Amazingly the little known Kyle Chandler is now playing a major role in Peter Jackson's King Kong. So perhaps now Angel's Dance will get minor recognition. Featuring Backbeat's Sheryl Lee and the jobbing James Belushi (as potential victim and professional hit-man respectively) this small B-picture is surprisingly watchable and at times darkly humouress.

Opening with Jon Polito (in a familiar role established better in Miller's Crossing) sending a trainee hit-man to go with the best in the business to learn the ropes. For 'The Rose' (Belushi) this means teaching Tony (Chandler) to let go of any morals he once had and picks a random name from a phone book as the target. Neither one of them could predict that the target (Lee) would fight back with terminal force.

Offbeat, quirky and with some decent action scenes (and some good costumes to boot) this is yet another film that won't be seen by most, but will be appreciated by most that do. Surely Belushi is long over due another half decent role like this, perhaps Tarantino will remember him in years to come...

I don't know why movies with Jim Belushi don't get more attention when they come out. After I watched Angel's Dance I tried to remember a truly bad Jim Belushi movie, but I couldn't think of anything he's done that I didn't at least enjoy. Well, K-9, maybe, and there was a sort of time travel one where he was a real villain – not like the part he has in Angel's Dance – and I didn't like him playing a bad guy. Otherwise I think its safe to say: if Jim Belushi is in a movie it's probably worth seeing.

Angel's Dance also gives us Sheryl Lee in a quirky, funny role that fits her like her body armor. Belushi is the slickest hit man in the business, living on the beach in LA and engaged to train a new guy for a hit Uncle Vinnie needs done in Chicago on a protected witness. The new guy (Kyle Chandler) has to put up with Belushi's Zen training method, and do a hit on a randomly picked victim named Angelica Chaste, played by Lee. Angelica is a very whacked out mortician who doesn't take kindly to being assassinated and decides to defend herself. From there the plot is lightweight, but intelligent, and there are some good laughs and enough action to keep it moving fast.

Belushi is a very funny guy! (Oh, and there's a small but lovable bit by Jon Polito as Uncle Vinnie in the first reel.)

Writer and director David L. Corley has two other films credited here at IMDb, but I've seen them both and the others don't measure up to Angel's Dance.

David L. Corley's 'Angel's Dance' is an underrated quirky dark comedy. The screenplay is refreshing. The writing is quite clever and the humour is a delight. I enjoyed the twists and turns and the element of suspense is very well maintained. I only thought that Angel's transition in the end was a little drastic and the writer could have elaborated more here. 'Angel's Dance' is quite high in erotic quotient even though there are very few nude scenes. I can completely understand why Tony was infatuated by Angel. The principle cast, Jim Belushi, Kyle Chandler and Sheryl Lee are terrific. Jim Belushi performs naturally as the laidback hit-man and Kyle Chandler is equally brilliant as Stevie's impatient and unwilling-to-follow-instructions apprentice. There are only very few actresses who can play vulnerable, seductive and insane as convincingly as Sheryl Lee. The film is made within a modest budget. As such the execution is decent. Yet, the performances, writing and direction makes 'Angel's Dance' an enjoyable rainy day or late summer night choice.

I discovered this movie on HBO late late one night, and was pleasantly surprised. What starts out as a typical mob movie, with greasy hit men and fat Godfathers in Chicago, quickly turns unconventional with a change of scene to California. Our "heroine" in the movie (Lee) is a social recluse who dresses stiffs at the mortuary, while the "master" hit man (Belushi) surfs and eats tofu. Lee's character quickly goes from being the hunted to the hunter, which is the best part of the movie. Very entertaining to watch!

Lags hard in the first 15 min. or so,but then the weapons & shooting scenes are really neat and realistic.The story line is average,but Belushi carries the movie well,as the true pro he is,and makes it convincing and funny,while the others are somewhat uncomfortable with their roles.It could have been a real flopper,but it seemed as though Belushi went the extra mile to make it a film worth watching,even just to see his great performance.The film also adds some interesting,unexpected twists.Worth your time.