Dan Brown's book Angels & Demons is a better read than his big hit The Da Vinci Code. Its downfall is one of the dumbest climaxes I've read. Thankfully, director Ron Howard and screenwriters David Koepp and Akiva Goldsman spare us. They delete it from the movie version, and opt for a better, more believable ending.
Too bad they didn't extend that effort to the rest of the movie.
The Da Vinci Code prequel done as a sequel contains complex themes familiar to Brown's fans. However, missing from Angels & Demons is Brown's plot-cementing detailed, but controversial references to history and historical documents. Howard plops the basics out in "CliffsNotes" chunks that suck the life out of an anemic storyline in desperate need of Brown's depth and direction. Howard again wastes the talents of a miscast Tom Hanks whose only real contribution to the flick is sporting a shorter, but not much better-looking hairdo than he had in Da Vinci Code.
During a conclave to elect a new pope, symbologist Robert Langdon (Hanks) is called to Rome. He has a few hours to save four kidnapped cardinals threatened with death by the Illuminati. The reason given for the crime is ancient disagreements over science vs. God that forced the long-thought extinct Illuminati to go underground.
To punctuate the point, the group steals a canister of anti-matter and hides it in the catacombs of the Eternal City. After the cardinals are killed one at a time -- kaboom. No more Rome, no more church.
The great scientist Galileo Galilei was a member of the Illuminati. Hints on how to find the cardinals are hidden in his writings stored in the Vatican archives. Langdon and the film's characters use those clues to do a mad and plot-muddy dash through Rome to save the Eternal City and the cardinals.
Helping in the quest is Ewan McGregor's Camerlengo Patrick McKenna who is in charge of the church while the cardinals elect a new leader. In the book he's larger than life, quietly heroic and a great character. Angels & Demons gives him zero to do other than throwing out a line once in a while designed to give clues that only have meaning to the characters.
This is the first of the film's fatal flaws. Mysteries work best when the audience is involved and has a chance to solve the puzzle along with the characters. If you even get Angels & Demons' plot-solving hints, they are heavy-handed and not that compelling.
Flaw two: Hanks and his co-stars are like marionettes. Characters should flow through life and not feel like they're hung from strings to be moved to certain places at specific times.
Flaw three: in one scene Hanks' Langdon needs to read one of Galileo's documents. He's an expert in Catholic Church history and doesn't read Italian? And why choose Langdon? Doesn't the church have its own history and Galilean experts?
If pressed, Howard could blame the Vatican for the plot's problems. He claims it may have used its influence to "conspire" to hinder aspects of the filming. The Church apparently sees the themes as anti-Catholic.
I'm not sure about anti-Catholic but church officials could make a strong case for anti-good filmmaking.
The Red Violin
The film's main character is a violin. Francios Girard's (32 Short Films about Glenn Gould) 1998 classic starts with the wife of the maker of violins getting her fortune told. How predictions about her life fit into his greatest creation, the red violin unfolds a scene and character at a time.
Girard follows the violin through the centuries as it travels from country to country, and culture to culture before ending up at a present day auction. Its unique story gives the violin near mystical status as you learn from the cast's anchor Samuel L. Jackson. He is an antique expert who realizes a legend is in his possession. Through a series of impressive flashbacks unique clues are unveiled about the relationship of the violin to its maker's wife, to the maker and to history.
All movies deserve to be seen on a big screen but few absolutely must be seen on one. Stunning cinematography, beautifully framed images, patient storytelling, deep, rich characters, lavish set and incredible music make The Red Violin one of them.
Don't miss it.
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