A Secret Society with a Devilish Plan

Rating: 5/10 (14 November 2019)

This film essentially begins in at a Swiss laboratory with scientists producing three canister of the highly explosive compound known as anti-matter. Not long afterward, however, one of the scientists is murdered and a canister is stolen. Meanwhile, in Rome, it is reported that Pope Pius XVI has died and upon his burial a papal conclave gathers to select a new one. But just prior to this solemn event, four of the most influential cardinals are kidnapped with clues pointing to a secret organization known as the Illuminati as the likely suspect-and their plan is to destroy the Vatican using the stolen canister of anti-matter. To prevent this the Vatican sends a secret envoy to Harvard to enlist the help of "Professor Robert Langdon" (Tom Hanks) who specializes in ancient symbology and might be able to decipher some of the clues left behind by the Illuminati. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that, although this sequel to "The Da Vinci Code" had more action, the conspiracy theories were even more absurd than in the original film and this tended to weaken the overall story rather than strengthening it. That being said, while this wasn't a terrible film by any means, it wasn't something a person could take seriously and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.