Angels & Demons
The Pope has died and conclave is about to begin to decide on his successor, but before they convene the four prime candidates are kidnapped. Along with them, a very powerful and destructive antimatter prototype was also stolen, capable of leveling the Vatican City. Symbolist Robert Langdon is called upon once again, this time to decipher the hidden clues of a wrongly persecuted 17th century group, known as the Illuminati, in order to prevent the complete destruction of the Vatican City. Time is ticking as one by one the favored Cardinals are being brutally branded and murdered, while the antimatter has yet to be recovered.
No Disappointment Here
You can’t to go into this film or any book based film, expecting an exact replica of the book. That’s simply not rational. For one, authors have the freedom of hundreds of pages to describe the characters, their feelings, and plot twists. Writers and directors have only between 2 and 3 hrs to achieve the same results. Not to mention scenes from the book that may not transfer well to film. There just simply isn’t enough time to develop the intricate plots and characters as deeply and effectively as the book was able to do. If that isn’t difficult enough, they have the obligation to try and please both dedicated book fans and movie fans, neither of which is looking for the same thing out of the film.
Now, with that said, I thought the film was very good. No, it wasn’t exactly like the book, but I never thought for a second it was going to be. The film itself was very entertaining! The new twists added were very interesting and give the viewers something unexpected to enjoy.
The casting was excellent! Ewan McGregor was absolutely perfect for the role of Camerlengo Patrick McKenna. Tom Hanks, as always, did a spectacular job portraying the all too brilliant Harvard Professor, Robert Langdon. He seemed much more comfortable with this role than in the previous The Da Vinci Code. His fellow co-stars did wonderful jobs as well. Stellan Skarsgard in particular depicted Commander Richter beautifully.
The viewers got a quick paced thriller that left you in awe wondering how Langdon (Tom Hanks) could possibly harbor that much knowledge and retrieve it so quickly. I personally thought it was brilliantly directed by Ron Howard and the writing by Akiva Goldsman and David Koepp was superb. The selected book content was transferred very well. Ill admit there were parts of the book that I would have liked to have seen, but completely understand why they were excluded from the film. There was a nice mix of book content and added content. The added portions or slightly altered portions of the film were definitely needed to keep the pace or more importantly keep the viewer up to speed with what was going on. That’s where The Da Vinci Code went astray. They left the viewers who had never read the book way behind. There was way too much detail information omitted from that film. Angels and Demons did a great job keeping viewers informed of what was going on and keeping their attention.
The film looked great! The contrast of colors was excellent. The darkness of the film didn’t wash out or distract from specific detail at all. All the blacks and reds really added to the intensity of the film. The explosion was excellent! The details were amazing. The clarity and crispness of the film is quality work.
The sound was also wonderful, very crisp and clear. This really helped with the understanding of the rushed and excited conversations throughout the movie. Again the explosion sounded great. All of the speakers got a great work over. The sound and music really added to the suspense and energy levels keeping you on the edge of your seat. The music is specifically exceptional. Hans Zimmer is just brilliant!
Special Features
Well you aren’t going to miss anything here. There is over an hour and a half of extra for you to sink your teeth into including an extended version of the film!
Disc 1- Blu-ray
–Both Theatrical & Extended Film Versions
–The Path of Illumination– Follow Robert Langdon’s journey through Rome and see if you can unlock the path of Illumination.
-cinchat– Send on-screen instant messages to your friends around the world while you watch the movie together!
-movieIQ- Real time in-movie information about the cast, crew, music and production via BD-Live
Disc 2- Special Features
–Rome Was Not Built in A Day– The filmmakers share their secrets to creating the world of Angels & Demons
–Writing Angels & Demons– Dan Brown and the screenwriters discuss adapting his best-selling book into a movie
–Characters In Search Of The True Story– The cast share their experiences of bringing Dan Browns characters to the screen
–CERN: Pushing the Frontiers Of Knowledge– A look at one of the worlds largest and most respected scientific research centers
–Handling Props– The filmmakers discuss bringing the props from Dan Browns book to life
–Angels & Demons: The Full Story– a complete behind the scenes look at making the film
–This is An Ambigram– Meet ambigram artist John Langdon, the inspiration for Dan Browns leading character
Disc 3- Digital Copy