Outstanding Film That May Help Americans Learn About Relgious and Art History: Slightly Better than Howard's "Da Vinci Code"

Rating: 9/10 (13 June 2009)

There may be something to be said for a getting a second chance. Ron Howard's film based on Dan Brown's first Robert Langdon offering, "Angels & Demons", is a tighter better-wrought experience than the first movie "The Da Vinci Code", which is actually the second Langdon novel. Tom Hanks is back as Robert Langdon, symbologiste formidable, Dan Brown's Harvard scholar who is always getting drafted to participate in political espionage that is also wrapped up in ancient and medieval history, culture, theology, tradition, symbols and artifacts. You might characterize this stuff as Robert Ludlum meets the History Channel. The beginning is slightly different than the book but keeps the spirit of it well intact.
The plot itself is not that dissimilar to the Da Vinci Code. A person has been murdered, an old man no less, in order that a person or persons calling themselves the Illuminati can pilfer a canister of anti-matter, which is as potent as a few nuclear bombs. The Illuminati, an intellectual order that rebelled against the Roman Catholic Church in the 17th century, have apparently reemerged to enact revenge for injustices perpetrated on them by the church 300 to 400 years ago. They have hidden the cannister somewhere in Vatican City, the smallest sovereign country in the world and the political and cultural center of the Roman Catholic Church. When the cannister's batteries run out the anti-matter will be let lose and turn the Vatican and part of Rome into the cultural equivalent of a US land-fill. The Vatican and its 1500 years of history, art, books, records, and architecture will be turned into something reminiscent of Hackensack, New Jersy.
And to add insult to injury, the Illuminati have also kidnapped four cardinals. These events also coincide with "Conclave", the small period of time when the Roman Catholic Church must determine the new pontiff, aka the pope. All the members of the College of Cardinals have left their respective dioceses from every corner of the world to attend the secret election of the new pope. During Conclave, the cardinals are locked inside an inner set of chambers of the Vatican and do not have access to the outside world until they choose a new pope. Of course, the four kidnapped Cardinals are some of the top contenders for the Office of the Holy Father, aka The Bishop of Rome.
Similar to the Da Vinci Code, Langdon must use his knowledge of church history, art and symbolism to find the canister and also save the four kidnapped cardinals. And do it all before midnight when the Vatican will turn into a pumpkin. The film is a nice blend of religious art history with the intensity of a political thriller that you might find in a Robert Ludlum novel. And being able to peruse the Vatican archives, arguably the greatest collection of ancient books dating from the early Middle Ages to the present time, is a scholar's dream. Simultaneously, the intensity never lets up for those who like the sensibility of an action thriller.
The outstanding performance of the film has to be Ewan McGregor as Camerlengo Patrick McKenna, the priest who is the acting "head" of the church while a new pope is being chosen. In what seems a small insignificant role at first gains high import as the story unfolds. High marks for Hanks, reprising his role as Langdon, who seems to better understand his character than in the first movie. And Ayelet Zurer as Vittorio Vetra holds her own in a stellar cast. The only criticism I have is that the film glosses over her significance and the role of her father, a priest-turned-scientist, which is more fully developed in the book. In the book, Langdon first arrives at CERN, not Vatican City. Some have complained that Langdon's tour of CERN is completely left out of the film, including the late priest-scientist's study.
Still an incredible film, far superior to the recent Indiana Jones movie and the last National Treasure installment, with an incredible ending that makes the entire film. Not to give it away, but it rings of a counter-reformation Baroque-style fresco atop the ceiling of a Roman Church. This is one I will definitely have to acquire on DVD. If this is the best way for Americans to learn about their European cultural heritage, via an action movie, then so be it.