Angels & Demons (2009)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Ron Howard

Writers (WGA):

David Koepp (screenplay) and
Akiva Goldsman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 May 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

The holiest event of our time. Perfect for their return.

Plot:

Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon works to solve a murder and prevent a terrorist act against the Vatican.

Plot Keywords:

Illuminati | Vatican | Pope | Conclave | Vatican City

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Tom Hanks	...	Robert Langdon
Ewan McGregor	...	Camerlengo Patrick McKenna
Ayelet Zurer	...	Vittoria Vetra
Stellan Skarsgård	...	Commander Richter
Pierfrancesco Favino	...	Inspector Olivetti
Nikolaj Lie Kaas	...	Assassin
Armin Mueller-Stahl	...	Cardinal Strauss
Thure Lindhardt	...	Chartrand
David Pasquesi	...	Claudio Vincenzi
Cosimo Fusco	...	Father Simeon
Victor Alfieri	...	Lieutenant Valenti
Franklin Amobi	...	Cardinal Lamasse
Curt Lowens	...	Cardinal Ebner
Bob Yerkes	...	Cardinal Guidera
Marc Fiorini	...	Cardinal Baggia (as Marco Fiorini)

Also Known As:

Obelisk (USA) (fake working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence, disturbing images and thematic material.

Runtime:

138 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian | Latin | French | German | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #44269) | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:15 | Finland:K-13 | UK:12A (cut) | Hong Kong:IIB | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Ireland:12A | Singapore:PG | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Czech Republic:12 | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Germany:12 (f) | Sweden:15 | Argentina:13 | Brazil:16 | Germany:12 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Iceland:14 | Mexico:B15 | Japan:G

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures

Trivia:

Tom Hanks hired David Koepp for rewrites.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The Canon Rules (until recently) did not allow for someone with seizures to be a priest. The Church believed the person with epilepsy to be possessed by the devil. Therefore, the Pope would not have been publicly taking anti-seizure medicine. However, the movie establishes that the Pope kept his illness a secret from all but his closest confidants (the given reason is not "Canon Rules", but there's no reason to suppose that this was not also the case).

Quotes:

Inspector Olivetti: [on hearing Langdon's description of Pius IX's "Great Castration" of Vatican City's male statues] Are you anti-Catholic Mr. Langdon?
Robert Langdon: No. I'm anti-vandalism.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Angels & Demons: Decoded (2009) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Gregorian Chant: Requiem Aeternam-Introitus (VI)

Congratulations to Ron Howard!

No doubt Ron Howard is the great hero of this movie and has proved to be a truly professional and skilled director: he has perfectly understood the nature of Dan Brown's novel and the aim of the production, thus being the result a well-focused, well made and well performed product that will certainly be a top box-office movie.

Dan Brown wrote this impressive thriller, made of action, suspense, paradoxical and surprising twists, with the aim of selling. Ron Howard spares no effort and succeeds in rendering the same thrilling and engaging story, based on a well consolidated narrative outline, where we find the trustworthy hero, Robert Langdon, capable of unraveling every mysterious sign and leading us to a shocking finale. Everything, of course, sounds too excessive, there is a crescendo of excess, at the limit of ridiculous, but what is worth underlining is the typical capability of Hollywood great productions to take their job very seriously, and to make a good product out of nothing, being both them and the viewer conscious of the real nature of what is being displayed. What counts is that the final result is an aesthetically good and entertaining movie: and it is, indeed.

Evidently, the movie, like the book, represents no threat to the unbreakable solidness of the Roman Catholic Church, and even less to the faith of real faithful people. The fears and reluctance of clerical authorities when the movie was distributed, sounded a little excessive, too (and indeed, in the end even L'Osservatore Romano gave it a favourable review). It is not even a thought-provoking movie, at least it offers no new or interesting perspective: the ancient, and let's admit, quite old-fashioned (but probably not so out of fashion) dichotomy between science and religion, is just a pretext on which to build a strong and till the end entertaining story, still able to attract millions of viewers all over the world: all the remaining nonsense is forgivable.

The whole cast prove good performances, Tom Hanks is a certainty from the beginning, being however in my opinion Ewan Macgregor (the Camerlengo) the most interesting character, and the one with whom Langdon has the only interesting exchange on faith, but all actors (even "our" Pierfrancesco Favino) contribute to the enthralling atmosphere of the story.