Angels & Demons Review

Having enjoyed The Da Vinci Code, my expectations for Angels & Demons was high. Sherree was working to raise those expectations higher by telling me how much better the book Angels & Demons was than the book The Da Vinci Code. I think the movie almost delivered, but dropped the ball at the end. Spoilers ahead!

It’s hard to find fault with Tom Hanks’ actiing abilities, but what surprised me is how well the rest of the cast stood beside him — the acting was all very solid. Similarly the sets looked great — especially when you know that none of it was actually shot in the Vatican.

The whole idea of an old, secret organization deciding to rise again is exciting. There’s lots of history thrown out to make the story more interesting. Details like the scientists using the newest tech to destroy the church show how much thought went into the writing.

The suspense and urgency focuses of the movie keep things moving (most of it takes place over only about five hours). It’s mildly surprising, however, how difficult it is to keep things tense when so much of the movie can happen real-time. That is, the movie doesn’t cut from hurried scene to hurried scene — we see much of the process the characters go through to do the exciting and mundane.

But here’s where the movie fell apart: it was all a scam. At the end we learn the Camerlengo (McGregor) organized everything so that he’d look like a martyr, and a loop-hole would let him be elected as the Pope. The Illuminati didn’t return, it was just an elaborate scheme to help him rise to power. Disappointing.