Review: Angels & Demons

Grade: A-

The Pope has died and the conclave has been called to elect a new Pope. But, the secret society known as the Illuminati seems to have risen from extinction and has kidnapped the four top candidates for the Pope's throne and on top of that they have stolen a canister from the super collider in Switzerland containing a large number of particles known as antimatter, a substance that if it comes in contact with anything will cause a massive explosion that could wipe out the Vatican. The Vatican calls upon the help of a man who in the past has only caused controversy surrounding the church, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon. Robert Langdon realizes that the four preferitti will be executed at the four churches of the four elements along what is known as the path of Illumination. Langdon and physicist Vittoria Vetra much search for the clues along the path to find the next location in hopes of saving the Cardinals and stopping the Illuminati from destroying the Vatican. This leads them to a dangerous adversary, a disturbing discovery and a shocking truth.

Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, The Terminal) returns to play the main character Robert Langdon. He does a spectacular job with this role and thankfully ditched the bad haircut from DaVinci Code. Hanks brings a certain level of excitement to the role that really help the plot along. Ewan McGregor (The Island, Star Wars Episodes 1-3) plays Camerlengo Patrick McKenna, who was Basically the Pope's assistant. Ewan McGregor is a fantastic actor and did a great job in this movie. Ayelet Zurer (Munich, Vantage Point) played the beautiful physicist Vittoria Vetra. Zurer is a relatively unknown actress but she did a fantastic in this role. The rest of the cast really did a great job as well and really helped the movie flow. Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon, A Beautiful Mind) returns to direct this sequel and he does a great job. Ron Howard is one of the best directors of today and just keeps getting better at his craft.

One of the main themes of this movie has to do with science vs. religion. The Illuminati were started by a group of scientists whom the catholic church condemned for their work. They resisted the church but at one point the church started to hunt them down and kill them so they went underground and the secret brotherhood was thought to have disappeared forever. The start of this movie shows the supercollider at work as it tries to recreate the moment of creation i.e. the big bang, but on a vastly smaller scale. When this happens it creates two things, antimatter and it's opposite which is sometimes referred to as the god particle. This is why the Illuminati are after the antimatter in the movie, they believe it can prove that there is no god by these events.

Angels and Demons is a faced past thriller that keeps you glued to the edge of your seat. The suspense and mystery is non-stop and very exciting and fun. The movie just unfolds at such a rapid pace that it keeps you interested the whole time. Then there is the huge twist at the end which is very intriguing. The cast and crew do a great job bringing this story from book to screen. If you are a fan of The Da Vinci Code or just a fan of suspense movies I highly recommend watching this movie. It is great and just might be better than its predecessor.