Dan Brown: Sequels and Cash-Cows.
I am agnostic, but an apathetic agnostic.
I don’t believe in a spiritual or celestial being of any kind, nor do I think that there is a big party in the sky after death, but I don’t care if others do.
Nor do I spend much time musing their decisions or mine, I just go on with my life without giving the whole matter much thought.
So when alleged “controversy” erupts whenever any film concerning religion or even religious elements or parables I am more bemused than anything that people would give it the time of day.
Angels and Demons basically follows the increasingly unbelievable adventures of Robert Langdon, an expert on religious symbolism and it appears almost everything else, as he tries to stop the execution of 4 guys in lone for the Pope’s throne.
We met Langdon in The Da Vinci code, a film so long and boring that when the DVD I rented shut down with about 5 minutes of the film to go, I didn’t bother asking for a refund or a replacement to finish it. (I only rented this one as my wife wanted to watch it.)
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The Pope is dead, meaning the election of a new Pope must immediately take place. However the 4 most likely “Popes in waiting” have been taken from Vatican City, supposedly by the Illuminati, (which will be familiar to fans of Tupac).
The Illuminati have said that the four cardinals will all be killed and that Vatican City will be destroyed by a huge explosion which was conveniently lying around and stolen earlier in the film.
(Best way to explain the difference between the Illuminati and the Church?
Illuminati: Pro science and logic, apparently banished a great many years ago and said to include many illustrious names from the art world.
The Church: Pro religion (duh), and anti anyone that tries to defy their teachings.)
So the Church calls in Langdon to attempt to solve the case before the Illuminati kill the four cardinals, and the scientist Dr Victoria who developed the boom-boom that was stolen in the first place somehow is able to tag along.
Now Bob, being a symbologist and dealing more with facts is not of good terms with the Church, who have previously given him the cold shoulder when he requested permission to look into their archives for his research, but given the gravity of the situation the late Pope’s right hand man, played by Ewan McGregor grants access to Bob and for some reason Victoria.
Now Bob is obviously a genius and in the span of two minutes reads something into every second line of the sacred documents, including things never previously discovered for centuries that lead him directly to the trail of the killer(s).
For the rest of the movie the chase is on, Bob and Vicky must prevent any further killing and therefore save the face and credibility of the Church, as apparently even though the church has massive funds and manpower at their disposal they never seem to uncover anything. In fact whenever Langdon does correctly interpret the latest clue or symbol and relays this info to the Church he is treated with contempt, despite being right or very nearly right every other time in the film.
The dialogue is overblown and preposterous, filled with a massive amount of information and detail that Bob picks off the top of his head and manages to utilize immediately to stay on the trail.
Victoria is simply there to lag after Bob and to receive his wordy explanations, and to shout “Over here” at various times, and several other recognizable faces are there as either red herrings or to cause conflict between the parties so that the audience doesn’t realize that what they are watching is largely mumbo-jumbo fanciful drivel, albeit entertaining Hollywood drivel.
The final third is laughable to anyone who actually thinks about it realistically, but as said above all in all the film sizzles along at breakneck speed, and like most films if you are willing to ignore logic there are some good moments to be had. I just wish that the subject matter wasn’t held as something sooooo important and potentially globally calamitous, as this is basically Indiana Jones lite.
Final Rating – 6.5 / 10. Preposterous and enjoyable in equal measure. Take off your logic cap even moreso than usual with this one and you’ll emerge unscathed.
