"Carlo Ventresca: Our church is at war. We are under attack from an old enemy. The Illuminati. They have struck us from within and threatening us all with destruction from their new god Science."
Robert Langdon is called after the long time enemy of the catholic church, the Illuminati return to reek havoc on the city of Rome. Langdon is called in to help the police force find the church of illumination before it is too late. Langdon goes on the adventure with Vittoria Ventra, Carlemengo Patrick McKenna and Detective Richter.
As far as the actual film goes, the beginning sequence of explanation was really boring, and it took to long for Langdon to actually get going and solve the mystery. He took a lot of time to explain the Illuminati and the film didn't even focus on that all that much. It was the church vs Science. The ending was a little drawn out and the film was left with this odd feeling once it was finished. There were some scenes that fit, and others that were just unnecessary to include.
Tom Hanks reprised his rold of Robert Langdon and he did good once again. Tom Hanks just seems to fit the part. He looks and sounds intelligent. He is quite the actor. He never seems to fail. He always gets it done, and he never disappoints.
The strongest role however was not Tom Hanks, it came from Ewan McGregor who has had a hard time establishing himself since the end of Star Wars. He has been trying to shed himself of the Obi-Wan image, and the action star image. He is really trying to prove himself as a serious actor, and this role was a big step in doing so. His performance was quietly entertaining, and the character was brought to life in an impressive way. We never forced himself upon the character. As an actor, he let the role take him and let himself do all that he good, and that is good enough to be a very good serious role for him.
There will be groups of people strongly opposed to this film, and they have their own right to be. There are a lot of points of concern for the church with the secrets Dan Brown exposed in both the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. The only thing Dan Brown did, was take real facts and spin them into a fictional story. None of these events ever took place. The Illuminati however did exist and they were the opposition to the Catholic Church, and they were forbidden, so they had to hide in secrecy. At the risk of sounding mean and absurd, the church has nothing to really fear. For centuries on end people have been trying to expose the dirty secrets of the church.
There have been plenty of films to reveal some sort of secret organization hidden by the church. The only real problem is that no one has written these stories with such realism and hard hitting facts. Dan Brown knows how to write a novel, and Ron Howard knows how to show these controversial writings in film version. Angels and Demons does a good job of showing what many people are afraid of watching, a vulnerable side to a church that has existed for over 2000 years.
To end this review, the church and its followers have nothing to fear, religion will forever remain, and people will continue to think openly, and realize that nothing is ever perfect. This very aspect is revealed at the end of the film. I will not give any details away, but watch this film, even if you believe strongly in faith as I do. I believe in god and will continue to have the same beliefs, while still enjoying an outside look at what I feel so strongly about.
A good film, all around better than the the Davinci Code because it deals more with morality and faith.
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