In my opinion, the first movie adaptation of Dan Brown’s super-duper successful line of books, ‘The Da Vinci Code’ was markedly average at best that leaved quite a sour taste in the mouth. It had nothing to shout about unlike the euphoria that the book has created. Armed with a very bad haircut, Tom Hanks was at his worst and the directional effort from Ron Howard was bland which left much to be desired.Cometh Take 2, ‘Angels & Demons’ was their opportunity for redemption to make things right. And made things right they eventually did. ‘Angels & Demons’ in celluloid form was a markedly big improvement from ‘The Da Vinci Code’ in everyway (even Hank’s haircut). More dashing, thought-provoking and exhilarating this time around, this is how Dan Brown’s books were meant to be. ‘Angels & Demons’ is vastly more improved than their latter movie effort which was a ponderous offering albeit more famous of the two books.
Although still hampered by Dan Brown’s stocky characters and heavy facts in the books, screen-writers Akiva Goldsman and David Koepp thankfully did not go word-for-word in their adaptation and the result is many scenes were cut or minimized, such as the involvement from CERN, the character of Maximilian Kohler, and the somewhat ludicrous supersonic jet that flew Robert to his desired destinations were eliminated. As a result, more important and interesting matters came into play, such as the jurisdictional issu
es of policing the Vatican which is more fitting for the limited time-frame of the film.
With that in perspective, the characterization of its main players, Robert Langdon and Vittoria, get little, if no emphasis at all. They all seem like talking cardboards with just a sole purpose to move the plot along. They are not explored at the very least unlike the book, which greatly undermines their true potential individually and was the only letdown of this film adaptation.
Aiming to entertain instead of provoking any huge arguments whatsoever, this adaptation creates a skillfully executed Hollywood adaptation that contains qualities that pushes it slightly above average blockbuster fare. I guess lessons have been learnt from the past, and the result is definitely more polished, more energetic and more satisfying product as a whole.
Although still hampered by Dan Brown’s stocky characters and heavy facts in the books, screen-writers Akiva Goldsman and David Koepp thankfully did not go word-for-word in their adaptation and the result is many scenes were cut or minimized, such as the involvement from CERN, the character of Maximilian Kohler, and the somewhat ludicrous supersonic jet that flew Robert to his desired destinations were eliminated. As a result, more important and interesting matters came into play, such as the jurisdictional issu
es of policing the Vatican which is more fitting for the limited time-frame of the film.With that in perspective, the characterization of its main players, Robert Langdon and Vittoria, get little, if no emphasis at all. They all seem like talking cardboards with just a sole purpose to move the plot along. They are not explored at the very least unlike the book, which greatly undermines their true potential individually and was the only letdown of this film adaptation.
Aiming to entertain instead of provoking any huge arguments whatsoever, this adaptation creates a skillfully executed Hollywood adaptation that contains qualities that pushes it slightly above average blockbuster fare. I guess lessons have been learnt from the past, and the result is definitely more polished, more energetic and more satisfying product as a whole.
Reviewed by: Raymond Choy
Verdict: 8 / 10
