Angels & Demons

Or as I like to call it: The DaVinci Code.

I had mixed feelings about this from the beginning, mostly from a screenwriting perspective. I was concerned about the screenwriters making a sucessful story completely different from The DaVinci Code, and they did. I say this because my number one problem with this department lies with Dan Brown. Angels & Demons is, in short, The DaVinci Code. Or should I rather say that The DaVinci Code is Angels & Demons? Regardless, they have the same basic elements: clues to a mystery that could potentially destroy the Catholic Church, puzzles that only Robert Langdon could possibly figure out, corrupted institutions in which people trust, and the hot girl.

I have more Dan Brown Gripes: antimatter? Really? I don't think that, even with the LHC, that we could harness antimatter like that...which physicists still say doesn't exist. In my opinion, this seems like a pretty far stretch for me. But, Dan Brown isn't a scientist, so most is forgiven.

Another thing I noticed (and I knew they were going to do this): they set the movie after The DaVinci Code, when the novel is set before. Maybe they meant for this to be the sequel to The DaVinci Code, and a prequel to Star Trek (where they still don't like to use antimatter in the 23rd Century).

And, again, they left a big chunk of the novel plot out of the film. You know, the whole part about the Camerlengo being the late Pope's son? Yeah, that wasn't here. Maybe it would have taken away from the plot, but I think it would have added a whole new dynamic to the plot. Oh, and the whole Pope voting thing, where the Camerlengo's name cheered by the Cardinals before lighting himself on fire, and the regular Pope by normal means. Oh, and the fourth Cardinal dies, btw...he doesn't become the Pope. But, you can't ask for everything.

On the other hand, the cast was great. I was happy to see Tom Hanks again. Hell, I'm always happy to see him in a movie, and he did a great job once again as Robert Langdon. Langdon isn't my favorite of Hanks' roles, but I do enjoy his performance in this movie, as well as The DaVinci Code. And I've never even heard of Ayelet Zurer, so I can't really saw much about her, but I thought she did a good job as Vittoria, although her performance was a bit flat at times. And lastly we come to Ewan McGregor as the Irish Camerlengo Patrick McKenna. Now, in the novel, the Camerlengo is Italian, but I'm pretty sure Ewan can't do an Italian accent. Heck, I thought he had trouble with the Irish accent...I caught him slipping into his native Scottish a few times. But, he was very convincing as the "good guy" until the plot fully unfolds in the end. And, I must say, he was very distracting. Even as a priest, he's obnoxiously attractive.

And I also strangely noticed that it was sort of a breath of fresh air to be within the walls of St. Peter's Basilica.

All in all, I think I'll give this fim a Mehh+ for being a good, solid, entertaining, action-packed film, but with a bunch of awkwardness for anyone who read the book.