Angels & Demons: A review!

Being a Dan Brown fan, I have tried to keep my bias from affecting this review. Inevitably it has seeped in and you may find traces of my prejudice mingling with my views!

Dan Brown has authored both Da Vinci Code and Angles & Demons (among many others) which have earned him worldwide renown. Both books delving into history of Christianity are controversial and have earned him considerable wrath despite them being declared as fiction. However even this notoriety did not stop the books from evolving as best sellers. Just goes to prove that there is no such thing as bad publicity!

Consequently, the movie Angels & Demons had enormous expectations owing to the Da Vinci Code’s success at the box office. The movie makers have shrewdly used the Da Vinci’s earlier release to their advantage and hence you will see its subtle references (that are rather derogatory) throughout Angels & Demons!

I do agree that to make the movie (Angels & Demons) and form a screenplay, the book definitely needed some editing and parts of it had to be rewritten. However, what annoyed me was the fact that the director/script writer (whoever was responsible for it) did not reveal the final twist to the story. Hence the movie Angels & Demons is actually a diplomatic version of the book.

Angels and Demons explores the world of the highest order in Christianity. The age old spat between science and religion is reexamined under new light. For centuries both idealists with contrasting ideas have waged wars in an attempt to inflict their notions on this world. This story once again narrates the clash between the two self claimed enemies’ - religious leaders and men of science.

The movie begins on a somber note following the Pope’s death. Under the pretext of retribution a powerful covert organization called the Illuminati threatens to destroy the Vatican City - the birth place of Christianity. This clandestine group that does not stop at murder plans to erase every memory of the City and disrupt the papal election that is ongoing in the aftermath of the Pope’s death. The lives of the Vatican citizens and the Swiss guards are at stake as they gather to pick their next leader.

Robert Langdon’s (played by Tom Hanks - the Harvard symbolgist form Da Vinci) expertise in symbology brings him to the Vatican City. His knowledge of the illuminati is put to test as he strives to save the unfortunate kidnapped victims. This movie focuses on the proceedings of the Vatican society and the sacred rituals and customs that follow the Pope’s death. It also features the coveted Vatican archives accessed by few and rumored to hold the greatest and oldest books in history. How accurate these depictions are I do not know. But considering the fact that Brown’s work is mostly fiction, I would assume that he has manipulated some of the facts.

I have always been fascinated by the Vatican City, an independent country located entirely inside Rome!! The idea of it being the smallest country is weird and interesting at the same time! The Vatican City which is the Pope’s residence is also famous otherwise for the Sistine Chapel and the legendary St. Peters Square. In addition to the gripping story, I went to watch this film hoping to catch more than just glimpses of the Vatican and ‘Roma’ with its captivating churches and numerous ruins. I was sorely disappointed as the director has cunningly filmed majority of his scenes inside churches & other buildings while focusing otherwise on Robert Langdon’s (Tom Hanks) hurried pursuits from one church to another. The fact that the director barely captures Rome’s spectacular beauty led me to speculate whether he had created sets of the original venues. A little research with Google told me what I already knew!

Coming back to the movie, I would say it is one of the longest English movies I have seen apart from the Lord of the Ring series. But this movie holds the attention of the audience till the very end. After all Brown who masterminded this chronicle is a brilliant story teller! In fact, I did not even miss the intermission which I sorely longed for when I watched ‘Ghajini’ (no intermission) here in the US.

In my opinion this movie comes real close to being as good as the book, something which very few other movies have achieved. Yet with the final twist intact in the book, it gains more points in contrast to the movie and still wins at my polls! So hurry up and issue that book from our library... all you have to do is read the last few pages to agree with me!