Like The DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons could never live up to the phenomenon that was the book. Both of those books were absolutely spell binding, mind racing, thrillers. They honestly were some of the best books that I had ever read. Like most books, movies based on them just aren't as good. That's not a knock against the filmmakers. It's just damn near impossible to make a movie as good as a book that the readers read with their own imagination. It's like one of my favorite sayings, "Nothing is ever as beautiful as it is in your imagination." That is how Angels and Demons is. So try to compare the movie to the book is just unfair, so I'll do my best to look at the movie as just a movie. So the short answer is that this was a pretty good movie.
For those of you who have been living under a rock, Angels and Demons is based on the hugely popular novel by Dan Brown. It follows Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) who is a Harvard professor who specializes in symbols. When the current Pope dies unexpectedly, the conclave is formed and the process to choose a new Pope begins. This is all complicated when the four leading candidates for Pope are kidnapped. The Church calls on Langdon for help to find the Popes. He, along with the help of a beautiful scientist named Vittoria Vettra, go on a break neck journey through Rome, Italy and the Vatican to try to find the Pope's and who is behind all the evil before it is too late.
I have to say that I really liked The DaVinci Code although it lacked so much that the book had. Once again comparing it to the book. However, I liked Angels and Demons better as a movie than I did The DaVinci Code. As a stand alone thriller, it is very smart, very fast paced and very surprising. It is not like any other thriller I've ever seen before. There is intrigue, good character development, and just enough violence to keep you interested without over doing it or making it too gratuitous. One thing that many people could not stand about The DaVinici Code was Tom Hanks terrible hair cut. Well, that has been remedied. He got a regular hair cut and doesn't look like Nicolas Cage anymore. There was a part of the book that I found totally ridiculous and unbelievable that isn't in the movie which was nice. The movie takes place in Rome which is beautiful and made me want to go back there and live or something.
But, like all movies based on books, it doesn't go into as much detail on all the interesting historical facts about the churches and the Illuminati and the art, which is one of the reasons the book is so cool. But as a stand alone movie, if you didn't read the book, it is really good and you don't miss anything in the story.
I highly recommend this as a rental to anyone. If you've read the book, I don't have to tell you that it won't be as good (but there, I just did). If you haven't read the book, read the book! Its awesome! But you will like the movie as it is. It's not the greatest flick I've ever seen but it is still worth the rental and the watch by far.
No comments:
Post a Comment