Synopsis:
Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon works to
solve a murder and prevent a terrorist act
against the Vatican.
The Freak's
Rating: B- : In 2006's The Da Vinci
Code, Catholics everywhere were upset that the
opinions of Dan Brown (author of the book) were
going to be thrust upon the world as fact in a
film engineered by liberal Hollywood.
Jesus was married? There is a descendant
of Christ walking among us? There were
multiple issues the Church had with the film
that they were quite vocal in protesting.
As it always does, their protesting simply
helped the film make more money and generate a
sequel. Nice plan Catholics.
Angels & Demons picks up where The Da Vinci Code
left us, with symbologist Robert Langdon
required to solve yet another mystery, but this
time the Catholic Church needs his help to do
so. The ancient group Illuminati has
chosen this time in history to return to power
and destroy the Vatican. Who better to
help our world fight against them than an aging
out of shape historian, right?
We
meetup with Langdon (Hanks) as he swims in a
pool, a scene thrust at us by our filmmaker to
say that Langdon can carry out all the
physically strenuous activities he'll no doubt
have to undertake as the hero of the story.
Langdon immediately jumps into know-it-all mode
and off we go. Direction and acting are
nicely done here. I did have a problem
with the disappearance and non mention of the
descendant of Christ (from the first film).
I'd have thought Langdon would have kept her by
his side for all his future adventures or at
least explained briefly where she went.
Her lineage would, after all, have been the most
important discovery in our time. It
appears however, that Hollywood has an endless
supply of brunettes who seem to know it all and
are willing to help heroes with adventures, so
the next one steps in and we barely skip a beat.
Editing in the film had an incredible glitch
with the characters mentioning the word "he" as
the killer about an hour in, rather than they.
The film starts with the investigators and
Langdon accepting that Illuminati is the group
responsible for any killings and suddenly,
without a scene to explain how, they all know it
is one man doing the job. Bad work guys.
Successfuly adapting a screenplay is one of the
hardest things a writer can attempt, especially
if the novel is well done to start with.
I'd like to tell you that, for once, Angels &
Demons writer did so perfectly, but alas I
cannot. The writing's glaring oversight is
within the scenes introducting the villain and
ultimately the reveal of said villain.
I'll keep quiet about the "mystery" here, but
I'll just say that it was entirely too obvious
for me right from the start.
Hanks
has always been able to pull off the genius role
better than Nicolas Cage (National Treasure
franchise) and Ron Howard does weave
together a nice story. Writing and editing
needed to be tighter here for an A rating.
Still, fans of the first will no doubt enjoy the
second adaptation of Brown's books.
click here to review
it yourself!
