Angels & Demons

Angels & Demons… what can I say about the recent movie? If you’ve not read the book then no doubt this could be worthwhile since you have no idea what there is to be dissapointed with. If however you have read Angels and Demons then there are some infuriatingly ill-advised changes to the plot that turn the film into something of an annoyance. Please don’t read further if you don’t want to know about the film

WARNING SPOILERS > READ FURTHER AT YOUR OWN RISK

The film started off on a dissapointing note, having got shot of the Aurora plane that takes him to CERN, he instead goes directly to the Vatican in a poxxy little helecopter. The Aurora was one of the coolest bits in the book, but it’s absence sets the tone for the rest of the film. Once he arrives in the Vatican he starts to unravel the mystery by following the clues around town. However, every time Robert Langdon of the book  actually gets to do something useful other than decifering symbols, it was clearly deemed too unlikely in the film.

Robert becomes a tourist within his own story. He is taxied about a lot, and stands gawping at events unfolding a lot, but never gets the opportunity to do anything about anything other than cracking the next puzzle. He doesn’t even get to go up in the helecopter at the end, and I was sitting in the cinema watching horrified as he missed his helecopter ride, wanting to shout at the screen “Langdon you fool, you’ve missed your bloody chopper ride!”

So the film was a big dissapointment. I came out of Star Trek (and I’m not a big star trek fan) thinking “wow!” and came out of Angels & Demons thinking “ppffffft” which says it all really. I can see where the one stars are coming from. Personally I would give it two stars and a pat on the head for trying its best to be a good little film. But I think too much was watered down in an attempt to appease the church, and as a result some of the best elements were lost. The raging battle between Science and Church became a raging storm in a teacup for the film.

If you’ve not yet seen Star Trek then I would suggest you drop the money on a Star Trek ticket and go enjoy a masterful reboot: prepare to be blown away by action, plot, drama, and a meaningful storyline that makes the characters work for their money and gives each of them a chance to make a difference.