A good mystery

Rating: 7/10 (6 April 2010)

Recap: The Pope has died and all the world's cardinals has gathered in the Vatican for Conclave, to choose the next Pope. But the process is disturbed, four cardinals, the favorites for the election, has been kidnapped, and the entire Vatican is threatened by a batch of antimatter, with the equal explosive force of a small nuke. The Illuminati has risen again. Despite his previous works, the Vatican police bring in Professor Langdon, to help them solve a mystery heavy with mystery, symbols and hidden agendas.
Comments: A sequel to The Da Vinci Code, but apart from Langdon and a few unimportant references it does not follow the previous, and can be easily watched without having seen the Da Vinci Code. What it kept is the feeling of mystery, the detective story and the intrigue. Because Angels & Demons is a very good detective story, and despite being over two hours long, the time flies by. The story is full of prime suspects, and the story is twisting its way forward. It is almost twisting too much, so that you come to expect the movie to try to fool you. Unfortunately that leads to the opposite result, the movie becomes quite predictable.
It is a very well made movie, Ron Howard is a skilled and meticulous director. But what this movie lacks compared to the Da Vinci Code is the visual wizardry and the tangible historical connections. That gave that movie an extra edge, lifted it to a higher level, that Angel & Demons never reaches. Still it is a very entertaining mystery.
If you, like me, likes stories that utilizes and builds on existing symbols and organizations, and puts them in a plausible but fictional story, you will enjoy this too.
7/10