SO, HOW WAS "ANGELS AND DEMONS"?
It wasn't bad. I enjoyed it quite a bit actually, despite having to urinate so badly it became painful with about a half hour left in the movie.
It almost seemed like the dialog was forced at times, but necessarily so in order to propel the movie along so that all the labyrinthine plot details could be included in the roughly two hours. I enjoyed Dan Brown's book, so the movie was one I had been looking forward to for some time.
The special effects are good, and although some of the Vatican scenes were done on stage sets or with computer effects, the overall effect is of being there.
Tom Hanks is good as usual, if you like Hanks. I thought Ewan McGregor was excellent in his role. Ayelet Zurer was good.
If you like Dan Brown's books, as I do, be prepared for some changes to the plot line. I was a bit perplexed by the changes made for this movie, but I still like the film.
Now, I look forward to the release of the next book, "The Lost Symbol" September 15!
6 Comments:
I haven't seen it yet but during the preview it appeared Tom's hairstyle was a lot less dorky...
Yes, the hairstyle is much less an issue this time around! 8)
Hanks first appears while exercising, swimming laps. Not a hunk or anything close to it, but I thought "Gee, maybe there is hope for me. If I worked out every day for a couple of years, I might be able to look like that."
The "leading lady" in the film is very attractive, and she carries off the part of the scientist pretty well when she is in scientist mode... but she quickly slips into "sidekick" mode and then the scientist part seems to go away.
Like I said, there are changes to the book's plot. Not hugely major, but major enough that it's noticeable... so if you are a Dan Brown afficionado, beware. After the movie, Mrs. Snave and I were asking each other questions like "Wait a minute, what about..." and "But in the book, didn't so-and-so do this or that?" of "Wasn't so-and-so a bad guy in the book?" Whatever. I suppose Dan Brown gave the screenplay his blessing... Nonetheless, I am not such a Brown purist that I couldn't find the movie unenjoyable.
I didn't give the movie a rating, but on a five-star scale I would give it a 3.5. For me, that means "It was good enough to justify having seen it in the theater, but maybe not." 4 stars would be "Yes it was worth seeing it in the theater" and 3 stars would mean averagely entertaining but worth waiting for the video rental". So by my scale, the film is a "tweener" in that regard.
Brown's stories are so fantastic that I think they are very tough to bring to the screen without them being self-parodying or silly at times.
Same with the books of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child... their books are favorites of Mrs. Snave and me. We are currently listening to the newest one "Cemetery Dance" as an audio CD, and I keep wondering how they would make a decent movie out of it, or if it would even be possible.
We both love the character of A. Pendergast, the FBI special agent who has a mysterious air about him to go with his big bag of tricks, and we were greatly disappointed with the filmization of the first Pendergast book, "Relic". Pendergast was hardly even a part of the plot in the film... If the movie industry wants to start over again with the Pendergast books, they need to emphasize him as a main character, because the series is about Pendergast for the most part. "Relic" was a 1-star movie on my scale, by the way... in other words, don't go there, even if you find it some late night when you're flipping channels!
Preston and Child write as a team for the Pendergast books, and they have written a number of others this way, some that I feel are superior to the Pendergast stuff. "Thunderhead" is quite enjoyable, as is "The Ice Limit".
I will put together a post about their books at some point this summer!
Isn't it funny how female scientists in movies are nearly always "beautiful yet brilliant"?
There's a new Lincoln Child paperback out called "Blasphemy" I'm gonna pick up. It's about a team of scientists trying to re-create the Big Bang or something along those lines...
I will probably wait until it comes out on DVD, although I definitely want to see it sometime.
I have to agree with J. about female scientists in movies are nearly always "beautiful yet brilliant." I think they are essentially a descendent of both of the brilliant scientist and his beautiful daughter that used to figure in so many sci-fi movies.
"Blaphemy" is a fun book. I found the characters a bit on the cartoonish side, but it raises some interesting scientific/religious/philosophical questions.
But, you mean, a woman can be both beautiful AND brilliant?
Kidding! Don't shoot!
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