Angels & Demons (Movie Review)

Movie Review
Angels and Demons
2009
Starring: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor
Directed by: Ron Howard

Rarely could I ever say that a movie with wooden acting, horribly over-the-top special effects and a wacky ludicrous ending is worth watching but Angels & Demons has created such a case. It seems likely Ron Howard lucked out more than anything else because the director shouldn’t be credited with turning the Dan Brown novel of the same name into a cinematic masterpiece. It’s more of a miracle that Angels & Demons is a great film despite its flaws.

The Pope has died and all the higher-ups within the Roman Catholic Church are in Vatican City to decide who the next Pope should be. While the Catholic world is waiting to see white smoke appear from the chimney, the Church is under attack by a secret organization called the Illuminati. The Illuminati were a group of intellectuals who spoke against the church in the name of science. The Church brutally oppressed the Illumanti until it was thought that they had all disappeared. However, with the Catholic Church at its most fragile, the secret organization has decided to come out of the shadows.

A mercenary within the group has stolen a vial of antimatter from the European Organization of Nuclear Research (CERN) and the group is now threatening to blow up the Vatican. They also kidnap and threaten to kill four cardinals, within an hour of each other at midnight after the first day of a papal conclave to elect the new pope. The Vatican, under the leadership of Camerlengo Patrick McKenna (Ewan McGregor), asks for the help of Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), an American symbologist, to help aid the Vatican police with the investigation. This is controversial since Langdon wasn’t seen favourably by the church due to his previous actions (from the movie The Da Vinci Code) as well as his attempts to gain access to Vatican archives to write books the Church feels would be an attack on their religion. However, Langdon’s help is seen as invaluable given the circumstances. Langdon and CERN scientist Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer) have very little time to find out where that antimatter vial is before the entire city is sent to the heavens.

Much of the same problems that plagued The Da Vinci Code are still here. Lame acting (especially from Hanks), the story keeps going in circles, and too many plot twists. However, there were some improvements. While most of the acting was shabby, Ewan McGregor was pretty good in his role as McKenna. He seemed to be the only character to have some personality. Perhaps it’s not Hanks fault that he looks like he’s bored playing Langdon. Maybe that’s what the role calls for. However, these dull personalities hurt the film and contrasting a character like McKenna against characters like Langdon and Vetra make the film seem unbalanced.

One thing the film does do right is that they sped up the pace and made it feel less repetitive. Even though at times it feels like the movie is running in place, at least it doesn’t feel dragged out. Everything is quickly timed and runs along at a decent tempo. It would be hard to get bored watching this movie because there is something different going on every couple of minutes. Even though the film is constantly recycling its own ideas, it still manages to feel fresh.

The ending is quite peculiar in that it is awful yet it doesn’t ruin the movie at all. The ending makes no sense and pretty much feels impossible given the developments in the movie. It also doesn’t help that it is awash with special effects that looks so fake that they seem hacked together by someone using a cheap computer program they found for free on the Internet. Yet despite this dud of an ending, the movie is still really enjoyable. It maintains the intensity of the story and the severity of the situation that the film it is trying to imply. Even though the final twist is seen coming a mile away, it feels like it was the appropriate way to conclude the film considering where they were heading with the ending. Usually a horrible ending is be the equivalent of tying a hundred anchors to a boat full of holes but not only does the boat manage to float, it feels like it maintained the integrity throughout.

It’s not like Angels & Demons had a better story than The Da Vinci Code but it just seems like it was better made. Either way, you don’t need to have seen The Da Vinci Code to be able to follow or enjoy Angels & Demons. If the ending wasn’t so farfetched and the acting was better, this movie would have been a movie that we would have been talking about for ages. Instead, it will forever be talked fondly of when someone stumbles upon it for cheap on home video. It’s an easy film to recommend even at regular asking price.

☆☆☆☆