Angels and Demons Review - An Unintended Impact

Los Angeles (Catholic Online) - Catholic Online recently reviewed the new Columbia Pictures/Imagine Entertainment production, Angels and Demons. The movie continues the Dan Brown story line featuring Harvard Professor, Langdon, played by Tom Hanks.

Preface
Any artistic expression or endeavor in any medium that references directly or indirectly the Catholic Church or our Catholic faith has our attention. It would probably surprise no one that even among our leadership and editorial staff we had spirited debates about this movie, its message, and its artistic expression.

And yet, at Catholic Online, we exist to inform, inspire and ignite. We exist to be in the marketplace.

And in retrospect, after screening the film, we think that most Catholic Christians, and most other Christians are going to be fairly surprised by the unintended consequences of this new Ron Howard release.

Angels and Demons
The 136 minute mystery thriller film, rated PG -13, set in Rome, is told with the following back story context: The current popular Pope has died. The College of the Cardinals is preparing to enter a Conclave to select a new Pope. The four likely candidates under consideration by the Cardinals, the Preferti are kidnapped. The Vatican receives the threat, supposedly from the Illuminati, a centuries old secret society, that the kidnappers intend to murder one cardinal per hour, and at midnight set off an explosion sure to level Vatican City and a significant portion of Rome. Professor Langdon, a historian, professor, and symboligist, is recruited by the Camerlengo, the secretary of the deceased Pope and temporary custodian of the power of the Vatican, to work with the Swiss Guard, and the local gendarmes, to track down the location of the kidnapped Cardinals, and find and diffuse the explosive device.

We learn that the explosive device, a container of antimatter has been stolen from CERN, ( the European cooperative to build and operate the world's largest particle accelerator) and a representative of CERN, Vittoria Vetra ( an Israelie actress, Ayelet Zurer, playing Italian physicist) joins Professor Langdon (Tom Hanks) in the fast paced search for the Cardinals and the explosive device. The clues to unraveling the mystery are found in art pieces, sealed crypts, catacombs, and several of Rome's famous cathedrals.

The race against time, involving twists, sub-plots, and turf protection both inside and outside the Catholic Church make for a thinking person's thriller. The story line moves through Rome art and architecture, as well as incredible sets and digital magic, to Hans Zimmer's musical score at a very fast pace. The dialogue is clipped, clever, and often eclipsed by the rapidity of the action.

Director, Ron Howard utilizes a new cinematic style introduced in other successful action films to move the audience with the action sequences. It is effective at moving the story line at a fast pace, and maintaining the attention of the audience.

Does the film deliver on the promise and the premise in the pre-publicity hype? Actually we think most viewers will enjoy the movie. It is an action paced unfolding mystery with some pretty good dialogue, incredible sets and scenery, impressive musical score, and the actors seem believable. As with any film of the genre, you have to suspend your critical thinking processes to engage and believe the story line, but having done this, it is entertaining.

The Unintended Consequence: The Heroic Presence of the Catholic Church
Ron Howard, as well as the lead actors, in an attempt to not offend Catholics, have all released statements in the pre-release that this film is about imaginary people doing imaginary things in a work of fiction. And of course, this is absolutely true.

But, in our view, there is a heroic presence in this film that is probably an unintended consequence. We believe that Catholics, and other Christians are going to like this film for more than its story line about threats from a secret society against the installation of the Pope of the Catholic church and the heros' race to save life and property.

The author of Angels and Demons, and the screenplay writers adapting the book, could not have created Angels and Demons without telling a story about the Catholic Church, the Pope, the succession process, and without the setting of the Vatican. While certain liberties are taken with historic accounts, and dialogue is prone to artistic license to create intrigue, three subtle messages about the Church permeate the story line:

The Catholic Church and what occurs in the Catholic Church is a central and important force to our world society. There are one billion praying, worshiping faithful Christians in the world that look to the Magisterium of the Church for leadership, inspiration, and clarity for faith and practice. The outpouring of love from around the world and the attention of the worldwide news on the recent passing of Pope John Paul is a solid witness to this fact.

The setting for the film, Rome, the Vatican, and several churches in Rome were either featured or re-created in sets. The Church has been a careful steward of the arts and the contemporaneous creations of scholars, architects, artists, sculptors, authors, and even the scientific community since its inception. You can not see this film without being reminded of how much this faithful stewardship has preserved and protected artifacts, and informs our mind, our faith, and our spirits.

The faithful witness of the Cardinals, the prayerful process to select the Vicar of Christ, and the necessity of the seamless integration of faith and practical living to lead the worldwide Church is, in our humble opinion, the true story line in this work of fiction. We believe, in reflection, that the audience that sees this film will find a "gospel", a current good news, in the faithful and dedicated service to the Church by the Bishops of the Church. We noticed a few misty eyes among the "screening" audience in the final scenes dialogue as the new Pope prepared to greet the gathered faithful.

We think Sony will be pleased with the anticipated commercial success of this film. And we also think, Catholics, and non-Catholics, beyond the value of an entertainment escape provided by this fast paced mystery thriller, may exit with a profound appreciation for the central place that faith and the Church play in our everyday lives.

Rating: PG-13, some intense violence, graphic scenes of the effect of physical violence.

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