Controversy. What is it about controversy that draws me to a film I wouldn’t normally watch? No, I have never read the books, and no, I have no strong feelings over the context of the film. But whenever I saw the group of old ladies outside the theater with their picket-line style signs protesting The Da Vinci Code I just couldn’t say no. To be completely honest The Da Vinci Code wasn’t even that great. But seeing as how the controversy still surrounded Angels and Demons, I yet again found myself unable to pass it up.
The style of Angels and Demons was amazingly close to that of The Da Vinci Code. I really found that to be amazing as normally sequels are normally just seem like a crappy knock off of the original. And just like it’s predacesor, Angels and Demons seemed to this writer very similar to the National Treasure series. However, Angels and Demons is much more violent, action packed, and more oriented for adults rather than a family film.
I normally shy away from discussing the plot of films in my reviews, but having not read the book, and the trailers being very vague as to any actual plot behind the film, I found myself not really knowing what to expect. I was actually quite surprised with the plot, so I figure I can shed some light to those of you who found yourself clueless like I did. So here is exactly how the film went down, or at least the way I saw it.
- The Pope is dead and the Catholic church is in the process of electing a new Pope.
- Uh Oh! The four cardinals that were the likely prospects to become the new pope have come up missing along with a vile of anti matter.
- Oh No! Now we learn that the Illuminati have hidden the anti matter in Vatican City, along with the Cardinals and is going to blow everything to hell come midnight.
- If that isn’t enough the cardinals are going to be killed every hour until they are all gone.
- Someone decides to call Robert Langdon, surely he can solve this riddle.
That was just a quick rundown of the film, there is actually much more to the plot, but I didn’t want to spoil it for you.
Tom Hanks really stood out to me in Angels and Demons. He seemed like he has really taken to the role of Robert Langdon. In the first film Hanks just didn’t seem comfortable playing the part of Robert Langdon, I actually felt like they really should have cast someone else for the part. However, in Angels and Demons Hanks did an amazing job playing the role of Langdon. It was almost like the role was meant for him. I wasn’t really able to tell if Hanks had grown into the role, or if the part were modified to better fit his style. Regardless Hanks really proved that he could do the job.
I wanted to try and avoid anything too negative as it seems that anything I review lately turns negative but I just have to mention a few things. My first complaint is how fast the film moves from one scene to the next. Sure, the film was action packed and all, but it left very little time for dialogue. This would be ok, but the dialogue was still crammed in there and made things seem really rushed. And my final complaint is just that Robert Langdon figured things out too easy. It almost seemed like he was just guessing and pulling things out of his ass. So no major complaints, just a few things that I felt could be improved on.
All in all the film was very enjoyable. It wasn’t the greatest film, but I did enjoy the story, and the action. If you are looking to waste an afternoon in a theater then this would be a good film to consider, but otherwise I would just wait for it to come out on video.