Not so good remake of a great Book

Rating: 5/10 (8 April 2011)

I came into this movie with high expectations, hoping it wouldn't stray too far from the book version. However, at the end of the movie, I was completely disappointed. The basic plot may have been the same, but there was a lot of contrast between the movie version and the book version: I recorded them and here they are:
(1) Kohler wasn't in the movie at all! In my mind, he played a major part in the whole discovery of Vittoria Vetra's father, but he was completely excluded from the movie, as was the way her father was found changed. He also did not surface to expose the carmelango, another important role of his. I found myself wishing for his presence in the movie.
(2) The LHC project of the Vetra and her partner/priest?? was by no means a secret project, as portrayed in the book.
(3) The movie didn't make it clear how the Illuminati symbol played into the movie, making me wonder it's relation. In the book, it was clear that the symbol had been branded on Vetra's chest, but in the movie no such thing was shown clearly.
(4) In the book, St. Peter's Square is said to be devoid of much media or bystanders, but in the movie the whole square is filled from the very beginning of conclave with dozens of news teams and a plethora of worshipers.
(5) Where was Gunther Glick? Come on!
(6) There were no fight scenes between Langdon and the Hassasin, nor was the Hassasin portrayed as very evil, as he was in the book. He has three fights with the Hassasin, which, after reading the book, I was really looking forward to seeing them come alive in the movie. However, they were completely left out and instead of Vittoria killing the Hassassin, his car blew up? Yeah, I didn't get how that tied in or who blew it up. Another unnecessary point of change.
(7) Vittoria was never taken hostage.
(8) Commander Richter (whoever that was) is the scapegoat for the carmelangos' plans, unlike Kohler in the book. I didn't really get how this played in at all, and I had no clue who Commander Richter was anyway.
(9) There was no love connection between Langdon and Vetra. Come on! This could have been portrayed so amazingly in the movie, but they choose to leave it out?! What were they thinking?
(10) Langdon doesn't go up in the helicopter, nor does he find the incriminating video from Kohler or even from Commander Richter.
(11) The coolest symbol of all is not included, but instead is..... keys? What?
(12) The ending is different, the carlemango's death is different, the elected pope is different (apparently the last cardinal of the preferiti is saved by Langdon).
(13) This is out of order, but the scene between Langdon and the Hassasin was totally left out. This was a really important fight and an important part of the book, I thought, and it was totally left out.
Some of these differences might seem insignificant, but in my view they really changed the plot for the worse. As is often with remakes of good books, the movies can't hold up to the great plots of the book. I think in this case, the book was a lot better than the movie. For that reason, and some others having to do with the constant action, confusion caused by the "new plot" of the movie among others, (5/10).