Angels & Demons - The Review

Another weekend past, another summer blockbuster down. On Friday, I took a trip to Rome and chased a guy killing bishops of the Church. Entertaining thrills ensued.

I had really mixed feeling walking out of Angels & Demons. On one hand, the movie was really good. The acting was great, the story moved along nicely, and the score, well, just damn. But it felt there was something missing.

Prior to going to the theater, I amped myself up on The Da Vinci Code. I love that movie. The end, the last scene with Tom Hanks kneeling down just gives me chills. It's an epic conclusion to a truly great movie. Angels & Demons was missing the chills though. I'm not sure if I can blame the movie for that, however, because the story itself doesn't cover the same sweeping territroy that The Da Vinci Code does. The Da Vinci Code sweeps through symbolic history and wraps up with a conclusion, that while fictional, is earth-shattering in its weight. Angels & Demons has no such earth shattering conclusion - the story is merely the hunt for a killer and, ultimately, the mastermind behind it. 

The Da Vinci Code ranks as one of the only movies that is better than the book from which it was based. This is due to a number of factors, including the fact that I think Dan Brown is a miserable writer. Sure, his books are suspenseful - if you've only read one. the same character is the "secret" bad guy in every one of his books, there is very little character development (hell, after 2 books, Robert Langdon is the same character he was in the beginning of Angels & Demons), and his style is very simplistic. 

Event.

Event.

Event.

No filler.

The movie was also better because: Tom Hanks, Hans Zimmer, Ron Howard. Of special note: Audrey Tautou is simply a delight as Sophie Neveau. She brings  adepth to the character that is just never there in the novel. I love her and wish she was in more movies on this side of the ocean.

So, that brings us back to Angels & Demons. Is it better than the book? Perhaps. I'm not quite sure yet.

Let's start with the things I had issue with. First, they removed most of the symbology that was present in the book. This was always my favorite thing about the novels. Near the beginning, Langdon traces the Illuminati through histroy, showing their infiltration into the government and religion using symbols found in everyday life, such as some on the back of the dollar bill. This was surprisingly cut from the movie, almost entirely. With the exception of his interpretation of the ambigrams (a word that can be read the same both right side up and upside down), you'd hardly even know Langdon was a symbologist. 

An example of an ambigram

Second, Ayelet Zurer was a very... boring Vittoria Vetra. She wasn't much of a character in the book either, but perhaps I was spoiled by Tautou's performance from the last movie and was expecting too much. Either way, she was barely a noticeable presence on screen.

Third, in general, the acting in this movie aren't quite up to the bar set by The Da Vinci Code. Yes, Ewan McGregor is awesome, and Tom Hanks is really great, but when you could have Ian McKellen and Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou... well, there's just no competition. 

Those things aside, the movie was really good. The best part about the movie was it's adrenaline-pumping intensity. Sure, it wasn't quite as epic as The Da Vinci Code, but it didn't necessarily need to be. The story moves at a quick pace, fromt he opening scene straight through to the stunning revalation at the end - that is, assuming you haven't read the book. Speaking of the book, with the exception of the various symbology lectures, the movie stays quite true to it's source material. There is a super badass assassin (played well by Nikolaj Lie Kaas) who ahs kidnapped and is killing bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in ritualistic fashion. All this amid the death of the Pope and the rush to get a new one in place. What unfolds is wonderful in the most edge-of-your-seat way. Gripes aside, I was completely swept along and barely even noticed the time passing. In particular, the ways in which the bishops are murdered are shocking, to put it nicely. Very symbolic, if you are paying attention. 

Ewan McGregor plays a fine Camerlengo; he really gets into his role, and he's a joy to watch (as usual). I hope to see more of him that we've seen recently. Also, Stellan Skarsgard is truly fascinating as Commander Richter - he lends a gravity to the movie that would ahve otherwise been lacking.

My favorite part of the movie must be Hans Zimmer's score though. I've been listening to that since it came out on itunes last week. Hans Zimmer is one of the most prolific composers in Hollywood right now. He's been busy just in the past year with Sherlock Holmes (coming soon), Angels & Demons, Madagascar 2, Frost/Nixon, The Burning Plain, The Dark Knight, Kung Fu Panda, and Casi Divas (Road to Fame in the good ol' US). Compare that to most composers who complete maybe 4-5 scores a year. 

Zimmer get some criticism for the soundtrack fan community for his reuse of themes between movies. For example, many of the themes from the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy were used in Gladiator as well. There are a couple more examples of this throughout his career, but these aside, his scores never fail to be entertaining and worthwhile listens. 

Then you get to the scores he has done for both The Da Vinci Code and for Angels & Demons. The score for The Da Vinci code has ranked since its release as my best score of all time. It is dramatic, chilling, epic... It's so different from both anything Zimmer's done and anything that any other movie has done. The music fits the movie, both the themes and the on screen happenings wonderfully. Besides that, it makes for a great listen even without the movie in the background. Having listened to the new score for Angels & Demons, I must say it is at least on par with that of The Da Vinci Code. Zimmer takes the musical themes from that movie and updates them, transitioning them into the more intense, faster pacing of Angels & Demons while maintaining the beauty that made the original so enjoyable. He adds a few new themes that add a delightful new twist while still sounding like they belong with the older themes. This is absolutely a must own for any fan of classical music, whether you like the movie or not. 

It will be interesting to see if Jablonsky's score for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen can compare favorably to this. 

Back to the movie. It was great. Was it as good as The Da Vinci Code? Probably not. Was it better than the book? Looking back on it, I think so. Even though the symbolism (and Audrey Tautou!!) was missing, seeing Ewan McGregor and Tom Hanks bring their characters to life really sealed the deal. The great score is just icing on the cake. 

8.0/10.0