Angels And Demons Review

Angels and Demons the sequel to The Vinci Code has finally hit the theatres amidst controversy. The Ron Howard directed movie is based on Dan Brown"s book by the same name which incidentally came out before The Vinci Code. The entire movie seems to be about a never ending chase. The closer you try to examine the story, the less sense it makes. It may not be as good as The Vinci Code but certainly worth a try.

The movie concerns an old secret society of free thinkers known as the Illuminati that was persecuted and believed destroyed by the Catholic Church hundreds of years ago. Illuminati has come back to destroy the Catholic Church at one of its most vulnerable moments. The Pope is dead, and it's time for for Catholic Church to pick a new one. There are four Cardinals that are considered to be picked to be the next pontiff. During the preparations for the coming Conclave those four Cardinals have suddenly gone missing, presumably kidnapped by the retribution minded remnants of the Illuminati.

The Vatican cops have no idea where to even begin looking for the missing Cardinals and decide to get help from outside. Harvard symbologist and expert on the Illuminati Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) comes into the picture. Langdon hasn't exactly endeared himself to the Church hierarchy after the events of "The Da Vinci Code," and the fact that Vatican is not letting him finish his research on the Illuminati. Having doubts about the Church's real indentation Langdon reluctantly agrees and goes to the Vatican to try to figure out the mystery of the missing Cardinals.

Langdon is joined by Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer), a European physicist carrying a battery needed to keep the antimatter container from losing its containment field and blowing up the Vatican. Langdon and Vetra being their chase all over Rome looking looking for ancient clues left by Illuminati, while the kidnapped bishops are murdered in horrifying ways one by one. They are joined by Inspector Olivetti (Pierfrancesco Favino) in trying to solve the mystery.

Angels and Demons has an average screenplay and most of the movie revolves around the chase. The plot of the movie raises too many questions and doesn't seem to have answers. Tom Hanks again delivers as splendid performance and makes us believe the story. Ayelet Zurer is fabulous as Vittoria Vetra. All in all Angels and Demons is a good movie although a bit editing and certain changes in the plot could have made it better. Its best watched not comparing it with The Vinci Code.