Angels and Demons

Angels and Demons is the latest of Dan Brown’s famous books turned into movie hits. If you had enjoyed the intriguing story of The Da Vinci Code, you would like this one.

Angels and Demons opens with the passing of the Pope in Rome. The Vatican staff prepares for the Conclave of the College of Cardinals, which will select the next Pope. Until a new Pope is selected, the Camerlengo played by the ever suave Ewan McGregor, assumes the day-to-day control of the Vatican.

The Camerlengo is the Pope’s chamberlain and responsible for overseeing administrative matters and fiscal responsibilities for the Holy See. And at the time of the Pope’s death, the Camerlengo also supervises the Pope’s funeral.

During this mourning period, normally a time of prayer and reflection, the Camerlengo is in charge of the office of the Pope. But when news of the Illuminati’s return reaches the Vatican City, the Camerlengo must take matters into his own hands to protect the church.

This is when Dr. Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol — seared into the chest of a murdered physicist, Father Silvano whose eye had been carved out (and left on the floor!) to give access to the murderer to get his hands on a state of the art time bomb – a vial of antimatter.

Langdon discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurrection of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati … the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth.

The Illuminati has surfaced from the shadows to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy… the Catholic Church. The 400-year old, underground secret society kidnaps the four most likely candidates (preferratti) before the Conclave goes into seclusion.

The plot gets more interesting with the countdown under way, Langdon join forces with Dr. Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer), a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid to overcome this threat on the church.

There was an interesting change between Langdon and the Camerlengo. The Camerlengo asks him “Before I give you permission to enter the Vatican Library, which I didn’t say I would, I would like to ask if you believe in God?” Langdon’s answer was simple and expected “I’m a man of science and I don’t think I’ve been touch in the way that God had intended”. The Camerlengo smiles and says, “I think you believe in God, if not you would not be here”.

Using the clue from Galileo’s book, Langdon, Vetra, and Lieutenant Valenti (Victor Alfieri) of the Vatican police (yes they have a Vatican Police force too) race to the first church, only to find the body of the first Cardinal, branded with the word, ‘Earth’ (in English!, I thought they would have a secret language).

But overall the frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, with Langdon dodging bullets and with Vetra in tow, the only hope for Vatican salvation was quite interesting and heart pumping.

But to me what seemed a bit out of place was the heroic efforts of the Camerlengo in the final stages of the story. He grabs the antimatter from Vetra, runs to the Vatican helicopter (I didn’t know they actually had a helicopter at their disposal!), asks the pilot to get down as he would pilot the heli!

With the bomb running out of precious batteries to maintain the antimatter, he flies higher and higher. Just in time to parachute out before the bomb explodes illuminating the sky brightly. Although it was mention somewhere in the storyline that he did fly helicopters for the army, this just didn’t gel. It was like his young Obi One Kenobi portrayal in Starwars, so Ewan McGregor!.

But Ron Howard did an astounding job directing the film, which is produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, and John Calley. The screenplay is by David Koepp and Akiva Goldsman. But don’t take my word for it, watch it for yourself.