Today, my mom took me to go see the muchly anticipated movie thriller, Angels&Demons. I've been really excited since I saw the very first preview trailer for this film, mostly because I loved the story and not so much about The DaVinci Code. In fact, just like with the books, this movie was better than the first. But I'll save these opinions for the review.
Angels & Demons Overview
[WARNING: This review will contain many spoilers for the movie and the plot of the story itself, so if you have not seen the movie, don't read unless you want to be notified of its pros and cons. If you haven't even read the book, read at your own curiousity and risk.]
Another warning, this review contains pretty random opinions and stuff, including my new fascination with Ewan McGregor, so...you've been warned.
The Cinematics
I guess I'll start with the good: overall, this movie was spectacular in its cinematics department! I loved the motion of the characters and the camera across the sets, the special effects of the antimatter particles and especially the explosion at the end...just all of it. One of the greatest things I loved was its face paced action without becoming too caught up in explaining the plot all at the same time and/or becoming incongruent with too much action. The story flowed (fairly) smoothly (no movie really gets it all in without its confusing moments here and there), and for that I am grateful, even though I've read the book itself.
Another element which I think would fit best under this category was the musicography (?) and the setting. Absolutely amazing. I've never been more inspired to travel East to Europe and visit such an amazing city (or rather country, hahaha). The churches were what got me and my mom, especially St. Peter's Basillica in the heart of the Vatican City. And the music!!!!! C'etait tres magnifique. Hans Zimmer is the greatest musician this side of the twenty-first century.
Acting
Okay, we all knew that Tom Hanks was an amazing actor, and he obviously served as at least twenty-five percent of the total reasons why I wanted to see this movie, but damn we had a lot of other great actors!! The biggest shock was both Ewan McGregor and Nickaj Kaas (?). I didn't even know McGregor was in the movie until the end credits and when my mom told me who it was, but throughout the movie I was just blown away by him *laughs sheepishly*. I credit it to his cute Irish voice and surprisingly the fact he looked awsome without any facial hair (hahaha). Nickaj which I believe was his name, played the saddistic Assassin who went around murdering the cardinals, but he was just so serious about the role! And yes, he was cuuuuuuttttte. But McGregor would still win...
Aside from that silly-girlie-crush-stuff, the other actors played their roles really well, too. Seriously, and realistically. The only thing that did bother me was a few people who acted very...stale. I can really only think of Vittoria. I can't really explain, but I just did not like her. I think that would be my only negative comment.
The Plot
Hmmmm...wow. Although the overall idea was there (you know, Tom Hanks is called in for a job concerning his expertise in religious things, he teams up with the authorities and another supposedly attractive woman to take down some anarchist/intolerant/murderous society, and ultimately succeeds by using his expertise to do the afore mentioned all the while uprooting some ultra-revolutionary secret about the Catholic church and/or learning something outstanding about religion in the process)...this story proved to stab me in the heart with a very sharp stick, twisting it and watching me cringe. I'm not saying it was bad...I'm just a little heart broken by all the little lies it wove in between the truth.
Here's where the spoilers come in. The first thing I noticed was this Silvano-guy, the partner of Vittoria's on the anti-matter project, is in fact NOT her adopted father. In the book, he obviously was, otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it. This was supposed to be important because it provides Vittoria a massive revenge-complex to kill the Assassin (and again, he never makes the snide comment about having killed her "father", nor does he kidnap her later in the story). Two elements left COMPLETELY out.
The second oddity occured when Maximillian Kohler never showed up. This makes me wonder one of two things: either the movie was becoming so expensive they couldn't spare enough to hire a guy a in a wheelchair, or I somehow missed something while staring at Ewan McGregor the whole damn movie. I'm hoping it was the second because then I could have an excuse to see the movie again and the casting department won't look quite as cheap. Either way, they substituted Mr. Kohler instead with the suspicious Richter, the head of the Swiss Guard. Not quite as fun, but oh well, he still did a good job (come to find out, my mom told me the actor playing Ricter was the actor who played Davy Jones in the PotC series).
Another minor note included mentions of Langdon already having a previously tense relation with the church, implying that the events of The DaVinci Code have...already happened. Ummm...if I remember correctly, Vittoria was mentioned in the early chapters of The DaVinci Code...and I think it's mentioned in the blurbs of the books themselves that Angels&Demons was the first adventure of Langdon's. *throws hands up in the air* Whatever, we'll just throw careful storytelling out the window and change the course of fictonal history as we know it. You know what, why don't we just say Resident Evil: Extinction came before Resident Evil (the first), and that whats-her-face knew how to kill zombies before she even knew who she was or what was going on. Yeah, that makes sense.
The last short incident I couldn't help but notice was the tragic deaths of all four cardinals by the Assassin. Oh wait, that should be three cardinals, because, THE LAST CARDINAL SURVIVED. I'm sorry, I must have been referring to the book, which by American cinematics standards doesn't mean anything to moviemaking anymore. It like, defeats the whole purpose of Langdon doing something heroic, but ultimately succeeding only to get information about the Assassin's whearabouts and a slap on the back for trying his best (it's tragic but bittersweet). In the end, this "miraculously" saved cardinal becomes the pope, instead of the other...church member, who in the book explains to the Carmalengo his very secret past (described below). However, despite the deceit, it is still nice to know that Langdon could save at least one of the cardinals...
Although these travesties were horrific to my love for this story, it was the ENTIRE story arc revolving around the Carmalengo that enfuriated me!!! (That's Ewan McGregor, by the way) Just to spit it out, the Carmalengo turns out to be the "bastard" son of the pope, which is the entire reason or a majority of it that causes him to do so much wrong to the church, but in the end everybody learns that it was science AND God that helped to bring him about. THIS WAS NEVERRRRRRR MENTIONED!!! Instead, Ewan McGregor just looks like a crazy-ass psycopath who sets himself on fire to escape being condemned by his church, not because he is confused about what he has done by killing his own father. It was this part of the story that made me truly love the book because it was just so...I don't know, moving or something. *throws the director through a stained-glass window* Stupid movie directors. You destroy everything with your whorish ways.
Those were the biggest concerns about this movie alone. Now, for some comparison.
Compared to its predecessor, Angels&Demons seemed to be much more interesting as a whole. Of course, nobody has ever reacted to a movie with as much hatred and fanaticism as they have in the past with The DaVinci Code, but somehow, Angels&Demons just is more inspiring and universal I think. The story wasn't so much about denouncing the church, but instead doing what all good action movies aspire to do: save the world, destroy those who bring evil to it, and motivate everyone else to believe just a little bit more in whatever faith guides them. Again, very universal compared to its original.
As for acting, this time around wasn't quite as bad as The DaVinci Code. In that one, I couldn't stand he stifling dialogue, and the strained emotions. Just not as fun, and so scholarly of everyone (gah). Again, only Vittoria really disappointed me.
Minor comparisons include the storytelling, which wasn't so riddled with the historical stuff like the original, but instead with more present-whats-actually-important-at-this-moment kind of action. And even that wasn't so muddied down with random explanations and moments of curious plot twists. In fact, I'm really glad the Carmalengo wasn't even one bit implied throughout the movie as being the conductor of the whole scheme until the tapes are actually showed, leaving those who don't know the story to feel totally surprised like they should and those of us who did read the book to know with clever satisfaction "he is SO the bad guy, and you other people will never have guessed it".
Alright, I'm totally blanking on whatever it is I want to finish saying about this movie, mostly because I'm eating dinner, but overall, Angels&Demons was amazing. Would I see it again? Of course. Will I feel even more in love with Ewan McGregor and that cute Irish voice of his? Uh, YEAH. No helping it. Will I ever get revenge on what was done to this story? Probably not, I'm not that motivated to travel all the way out to Hollywood to whack someone. They wouldn't even deserve it.
For those who know the story and would like to see the movie, don't let my prejudice change your mind, it really is very good. But just don't let the lack of certain details bother you when you go see it and remember, it happens.
-Kelifer
