Monday, August 10, 2015

Movie Reviews #34 - Angels & Demons (2009)

Plot: (from imdb.com) Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon works to solve a murder and prevent a terrorist act against the Vatican.

Review: Whenever you read a book and then watch the film adaptation of it, it’s impossible not to make comparisons. In rare cases, the movie is better then the book. However in most cases, the book is the superior source. Unfortunately, that is the case here with Angels & Demons. Right from the beginning, the movie makes some big changes that completely alter the story. There are important characters that don’t exist and new ones are inserted in. It’s all unsettling when you first watch it. Sometimes these changes are necessary due to certain constraints that occur with films, but they took it a little too far. Everything feels so rushed here. In the book, Robert Langdon takes time to reflect and think deeply when he solves the puzzles. Here they pop up instantly without much effort put into it. 

            Even without comparing book and film, there are some other things that are really bad in this film. Large parts of the movie feel real bad, almost Asylum bad. The green screen effects are terribly noticeable, I can tell that they are not actually in some of the locations. Luckily near the end they start going to actual locations but it’s too little too late. Read the book instead, it’s much better.

Score: 5.5/10

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