Review on “Angels and Demons”(2009)

Angels and Demons

Starring Tom Hanks, “Angels and Demons” was one of the most anticipated film of the month, based on the bestseller novel by Dan Brown.

Mr. Ron Howard, the director of this film, probably exposed himself to the abysmal adventure when directing this movie. Audience tend to have high expectations for movies like this- based on famous novel with lots of money spent on advertising it- and compare the movie to the original version of the story. Most of them are usually the loyal fans of the original story, often criticizing the movie version when it fails to meet their imaginations and expectations.

 

In this case, though, I would like to give it a ★★★★!.

 

The plot of the movie was very interesting because I’ve noticed that some of the scenes from the book was either deleted or altered. It was obvious that the director wanted to keep the main points in, but leave out the lingering parts to make the story line more fast paced and to-the-point. I don’t think the movie would have confused the viewers who have not read the book because its altered story still gave a clear introduction of its characters, problems, denouement and etc.

 

Although I thought it could’ve given more clear approach on the relationships of the characters, I think the plotline was appropriate for the whole movie.

 

The arts on the other hand though, was superb.

 

Through usage of both soft and harsh light, it succesfully re-illustrated the holy and “protected” atmosphere of the Vatican. By contrasting the dark shadows of the building and warm lighting from the sun, it also portrays the covert scheme going on beneath the pope-selection process (the setting of the story).

Magnificient mise-en-scene

Above is just one of the fantastic composition of colors and lines of the archaic buildings. The contrast between many reds and solo black shows the importance of the character, and foreshadows their roles. Harsh light through the window gives a sparkling affect on the whole scene, and creates the typical religious atmosphere on the screen.

 

Amazing lighting and cuts were awesome in this scene

One other strength of this film besides the lighting was the cuts. Fast jump cuts and insert shots tensed up the mood, giving surprised to the audiences even if they knew the story already. It also matched with its genre, “thriller”, and creeped the most out from the viewers with its original, new cuts. For example, cuts used in the scene above was amazing. Jump cuts between people who are chasing and are being chased using their shadow shown through the hectic construction cite was so intense that I could not resist hoding tight on the armrest of the theater chair.

 

Point of view shots were surprisingly clear, and it was very obvious which character was seeing which. Characterization was done through these shots- audience could observe what each characters were involed in or was doing.

 

Maybe it is because the movie takes place in the Vatican, but I think the movie achieved a tremendous success in its arts aspect. There were too many beautiful shots- the story itself was pretty impactful, but the shots were even more so.

It was both plot and style driven movie.

Good one to spend few hours of weekends on.

 ★★★★!

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