Retro Film Review: Angels & Demons (2009)

“Ripped from the headlines”, a phrase usually associated with American TV dramas like Law & Order, could be used to describe the plot of Angels & Demons, a 2009 thriller directed by Ron Howard. Made as an inevitable sequel to the immensely successful 2006 adaptation of Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code, this film has a plot based on Brown’s previous and less successful work, which had the good fortune of incorporating elements related to certain current events.

The film begins in Switzerland, where CERN launches its (in)famous Large Hadron Collider in order to conduct an important physical experiment and possibly capture the so-called “God particle”. The experiment produces three vials of antimatter, but immediately afterwards, one of the vials is stolen. The experiment coincides with the death of Pope Pius XVI and the gathering of cardinals who would elect his successor. Robert Langdon (played by Tom Hanks), a symbologist from Harvard University, is summoned to the Vatican when it appears that a vial is apparently held by members of the Illuminati, a 400-year-old secret society that used to battle the Catholic Church over its hostility towards science. Langdon and physicist Dr. Vittoria Vetra (played by Ayalet Zurer) must help authorities discover the vial in order to prevent a nuclear explosion. To make things even more complicated, the Illuminati have apparently kidnapped four “papabili” – cardinals most likely to become the new pope – and threaten them with ritualistic executions. Langdon must use his expertise to decipher clues about the cardinals’ whereabouts, while Vetra must find a way to prevent a nuclear reaction that could destroy the Vatican.

The 2008 media hysteria over the apparent alleged capabilities of the Large Hadron Collider and the 2005 media frenzy over the election of Benedict XVI, which illuminated some of the inner workings of Vatican politics to the general public, served as a good frame for the script by David Koepp and Akiva Goldsman. Unfortunately, just like in the case of The Da Vinci Code, the interesting background is much better than the actual content of the film. The conspiracy thriller plot is weak – both complicated and formulaic – and all those who had watched The Da Vinci Code would experience unpleasant déjà vus. Again, characters don’t have much depth or chemistry; protagonists have to deal with a superhuman assassin, while the film ends with a “surprise” twist that looks less unexpected than the authors hoped for. Unlike The Da Vinci Code, what is supposed to be the main theme of the film – conflict between science and religion – isn’t presented in an interesting or thought-provoking fashion, being reduced to a few words easily forgotten in a series of action scenes.

Howard, just like in The Da Vinci Code, tries to rescue the film with some interesting and attractive action scenes, but even his best efforts can’t compensate for the weaknesses of plot and characters. Even the most spectacular scene that happens at the film’s (false) finale proves to be disappointing, looking like a piece of superhero film forcefully edited into an otherwise conventional thriller. Angels & Demons is hurt most by inevitable comparisons with its predecessor – unlike The Da Vinci Code, it doesn’t provide any coherent vision of the world that would justify flaws in portraying them.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted here on July 5th 2009)

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