Angels and Demons: Convoluted Chase Around Vatican City

OK, I'm going to admit that I was pretty lost in all the Catholic lingo for "Angels and Demons".  Maybe I'll need a second viewing sometime.  But all in all, I felt the first 2/3 of the movie was a futile, confusing chase about the Vatican with Tom Hanks at the forefront.  Then, the most engaging part finally came in the last 45 minutes or so of this 2 hour 20 minute film.  My rating:  $6.00 (1.-10.).

 

The Pope is dead.  The opening scene is his open viewing in the piazza outside the Papal headquarters.  If you have ever seen the passing of the title of Pope from one to another, you have seen the hoards of people who wait for days and days without end for the white chimney smoke signaling the new man has been voted in.  Oh, for the rest of you ignorants like me, there's a 9-day period of "empty throne" (in Latin, which I don't remember) when the Cardinals get locked away in the "Conclave" (or huge retreat room) until they pick the next guy. 

 

The second scene of the film is Tom Hanks as symbol-specialist, Robert Langdon (thinner and in good shape), swimming laps until a Vatican policeman gets his attention.  Four of the pre-eminent Cardinals up for the Pope position have been kidnapped, as is the first significant collection of "anti-matter".  They need Langdon to help them figure out the complex kidnap message and save the Cardinals who are to be killed the next night at 8, 9, 10, and 11 o'clock.  At midnight, the battery keeping the "anti-matter" contained within a small, glass cylinder will fail causing a reaction guaranteed to take out all of Vatican City and half of Rome.  To give you perspective of its potential power, one small spot of "anti-matter" would be able to power a city for a month. 

 

The "Illuminati" is a group of brilliant anarchists said to have been formed centuries ago to battle whatever government at the time disturbed them to keep their agenda on the political/religious map.  Originally, they were brilliant scientists who were driven into anarchy by church persecution for enlightening the masses. You may remember them as some of the bad guys in one of the "National Treasure" movies.  These are the villains who are causing chaos at the Vatican.  The kidnap note is too convoluted for me to remember so I certainly won't be able to ruin the mystery of the movie here.  Needless to say, each little line has some meaning that only Langdon can decipher.  It has to do with air, water, fire, earth, and the ancient angel statues that represent each guiding the good guys in and out of cathedrals and other religious landmarks in search of the "anti-matter" as well as to save the Cardinals.

 

When Ewan McGregor shows up as the young "Camerlengo" or favorite assistant to the Pope,  you have to be suspicious he's more than a faithful follower.  Well-known Swedish actor, Stellan Skarsgard (Bill Anderson in "Mama Mia!"), gets to be the mysterious head of the prestigious Swiss Guard who protect the Pope himself.  The female counterpart to Hanks in this movie is an Italian physicist named, Vittoria Vetra and is played by Israeli actress, Ayelet Zurer, who picked a nice movie in which to start an American movie career.  Vetra and partner (partner dies during the "anti-matter" robbery) created the offending bomb-to-be.  German-born, Armin Mueller-Stahl (the nice, old restaurateur who turns out to be the gang boss in "Eastern Promises") plays Cardinal Strauss.  As Strauss, he's the keeper of Catholic law and process of picking the next Pope.  Stahl plays his part well.  You just can't tell if he's really good or not till the end. 

 

The cast as a whole is HUGE.  But Hanks, Vetra, Mueller-Stahl, and McGregor run the show - no pun intended.  The very competent Ron Howard directed.  His wife Cheryl and dad Rance both have parts.  Writers David Koepp and Akiva Goldsman have extremely impressive resumes.  Koepp wrote the screenplays for "Jurassic Park" (1993 and '96), "Mission Impossible" (1996),  "Stir of Echoes", "Panic Room", "War of the Worlds" (2005), "Zathura" (2005), and the last "Indiana Jones".  Goldsman wrote screenplays for "Lost in Space", "Practical Magic", "Batman Forever", "A Beautiful Mind", "The DaVinci Code", "I, Robot", and "I Am Legend".  Goldsman has a nice collection of producing credits, also.  You can't have too bad a script with this much talent working for you.

 

Of course, the movie couldn't have been made if Dan Brown hadn't written the bestselling book in the first place.  It's rated 'PG-13'.  There's some pretty graphic branding of chests with huge, red-hot, poker symbols.  I felt annoyed that the timeline for reaching each Cardinal was minutes before their demise -- like they can make it across town and save anybody in 10 minutes.  The kidnapper doesn't have them sitting out with signs saying here I am.  They have to travel and search the building when they arrive.  It got.....ANNOYING --especially the third time around. 

 

The symbols for which they need Langdon's expertise are less clear in this movie.  They search old cathedrals with secret chambers below ground.  There are cryptic pictures on bricks in on the ground, a pentagram with a central eye, and angel statues with sword, arrows, and fingers pointing hither and yon.  Also, one scene has Vetra giving mouth-to-mouth to a guy who's been shot.  She blows in.  His chest rises........and blood shoots up like a geyser from a bullet hole right into Hank's face.  Vetra sits back dismayed. 'They punctured his lungs', she says flatly.  That was a GOOD scene.  Oh, several people get to burn alive if you're into that stuff. 

 

I still think 'Star Trek' was more entertaining.  I expect "Angels and Demons" to do well because of Tom Hanks and the success of "The DaVinci Code".  To me, the commercials gave it a better look than I thought the movie produced.  I just wasn't so impressed overall.  There was a smattering of applause at the end of my showing, so you'll just have to decide for yourselves.  Happy viewing!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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