"Angels & Demons filmed by Ron Howard is roughly based on the book by the same name written by Dan Brown", I'd like to begin writing about this movie by stating this loud and clear. This book was written before 'The Da Vinci Code' while the movie starts off at some point after 'The Da Vinci Code' with references to this movie atleast twice on screen, once when the Priest from Vatican comes to Robert Langdon asking for his help and again when Robert Langdon meets the Camerlango.
The movie starts off with the funeral of a pope with the Vatican in mourning, this wasn't part of the book. After a quick refresher on the processes followed we move to CERN where production of antimatter is in progress under the supervision of Fr.Silvano and Dr.Vittoria. The priest is killed and antimatter is stolen. A priest from the Catholic church meets Robert and solicits his help in helping them find the Illuminati who it is suspected are behind the theft of the antimatter and the threat to four kidnapped cardinals who are also known as the 'preferati'.
To spell out the story completely would be to state too much of plot which is best enjoyed on screen if one hasn't read the book already. The movie uses the books premise as it's foundation and branches out though keeping most of the plotting around the murders in Rome intact. It deviates majorly in the way Robert is brought into the story, it doesn't talk about Camerlango's filial relationship with the deceased pope, the assasin is no longer Arab probably to stay within the realm of political correctness nor is there a hint of an attraction between Robert and Vittoria.
The movie is racy, it hits the ground running. The audience is taken rapidly from one plot to another without any delay without making the screenplay fuzzy. I particularly liked every scene in which the characters referred to 'The Da Vinci Code', they were well conceived. The first shot on screen began with music used in 'The Da Vinci Code', the main motif that was played when Robert finds the rose beneath the Louvre in Paris is one of Hans Zimmer's works and he's brought it back here to improvise it further and take it a step ahead using the choir, stupendous effort. This theme is used in multiple instances in the movie, it takes a different tonal color at some points because of the way it's treated each time.
After Vittoria rips a page off Galileo's Veritas from the Vatican Archives the lead characters set off towards the first church in Rome, the racy music remain a steps ahead of them in the 5/8 time signature, this is an original piece which is superbly written and orchestrated, awesome stuff. I can't state for sure if this movie's music is better than 'The Da Vinci Code' as I strongly count 'The Da Vinci Code' to be one of Hans Zimmer's best scores written for the screen. The way each motif is taken from the previous movie and reworked in this one is too good. A solo violin plays many motifs and the most interesting exposition is when it plays the old motif, lilting stuff. In the credits I saw Joshua Bell's name listed which sort of proved why the solo violin was superior.
Since most of Vatican is either CG or shot on a stage I didn't find too much of brilliance in camera work, all the action scenes were well shot and the night scenes were well lit and shot making it very difficult to spot the CG in them. At a little over 2 hours this movie is faster than the time you actually spend in the hall. I guess this is Ron Howard's way of atoning for 'The Da Vinci Code', I'm kidding. Watch this one, surely worth it and sit back in the hall when the end credits roll, you'll get to hear the full score from the old movie re-orchestrated along with Joshua Bell's violin. If your curiosity is piqued buy the book and read it.
The movie starts off with the funeral of a pope with the Vatican in mourning, this wasn't part of the book. After a quick refresher on the processes followed we move to CERN where production of antimatter is in progress under the supervision of Fr.Silvano and Dr.Vittoria. The priest is killed and antimatter is stolen. A priest from the Catholic church meets Robert and solicits his help in helping them find the Illuminati who it is suspected are behind the theft of the antimatter and the threat to four kidnapped cardinals who are also known as the 'preferati'.
To spell out the story completely would be to state too much of plot which is best enjoyed on screen if one hasn't read the book already. The movie uses the books premise as it's foundation and branches out though keeping most of the plotting around the murders in Rome intact. It deviates majorly in the way Robert is brought into the story, it doesn't talk about Camerlango's filial relationship with the deceased pope, the assasin is no longer Arab probably to stay within the realm of political correctness nor is there a hint of an attraction between Robert and Vittoria.
The movie is racy, it hits the ground running. The audience is taken rapidly from one plot to another without any delay without making the screenplay fuzzy. I particularly liked every scene in which the characters referred to 'The Da Vinci Code', they were well conceived. The first shot on screen began with music used in 'The Da Vinci Code', the main motif that was played when Robert finds the rose beneath the Louvre in Paris is one of Hans Zimmer's works and he's brought it back here to improvise it further and take it a step ahead using the choir, stupendous effort. This theme is used in multiple instances in the movie, it takes a different tonal color at some points because of the way it's treated each time.
After Vittoria rips a page off Galileo's Veritas from the Vatican Archives the lead characters set off towards the first church in Rome, the racy music remain a steps ahead of them in the 5/8 time signature, this is an original piece which is superbly written and orchestrated, awesome stuff. I can't state for sure if this movie's music is better than 'The Da Vinci Code' as I strongly count 'The Da Vinci Code' to be one of Hans Zimmer's best scores written for the screen. The way each motif is taken from the previous movie and reworked in this one is too good. A solo violin plays many motifs and the most interesting exposition is when it plays the old motif, lilting stuff. In the credits I saw Joshua Bell's name listed which sort of proved why the solo violin was superior.
Since most of Vatican is either CG or shot on a stage I didn't find too much of brilliance in camera work, all the action scenes were well shot and the night scenes were well lit and shot making it very difficult to spot the CG in them. At a little over 2 hours this movie is faster than the time you actually spend in the hall. I guess this is Ron Howard's way of atoning for 'The Da Vinci Code', I'm kidding. Watch this one, surely worth it and sit back in the hall when the end credits roll, you'll get to hear the full score from the old movie re-orchestrated along with Joshua Bell's violin. If your curiosity is piqued buy the book and read it.
