15 Underrated Movie Remakes That Deserve Another Look

13. City of Angels (1998)

Remaking any of European auteur Wim Wenders’ films is a risk, but remaking his acclaimed 1987 masterpiece Wings of Desire seems like cinematic suicide. That didn’t stop Brad Silberling taking the arthouse feature and turning it into a studio picture, Americanising it in every way possible as City of Angels, transporting the setting from Berlin to LA and slotting Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan into the lead parts as fallen angel Seth, and Maggie Rice, the mortal woman he falls in love with.

And it did precisely the job it was supposed to: City brought in the English-speaking American audiences for whom subtitles are unacceptable, and made a tidy return at the box office - a nine-figure profit more than the original film. But critics, and anyone familiar with Wenders’ work, dismissed it as low-effort romantic fare.

The story isn't anything we haven't seen before, but nevertheless City of Angels offers us a few reasons to revisit it. And foremost amongst these is the opportunity to see Nic Cage playing a real and ironically down-to-Earth character. In the years since this film was made the actor has had a rollercoaster career, one which rarely has space for this kind of straight dramatic turn anymore. But here he manages to be genuinely lovable, romantic, affecting and authentic, bringing an earned gravitas to the angel role and allowing us a glimpse into the foundations of what could have been a very different career.