Angeli et Demoni

Much better than 'The Da Vinci Code' though by the same director, Ron Howard.

The movie takes you on a mad chase across Rome, at break-neck speed. It stays fairly true to the book and chances are that people who haven't read the book will not be able to grasp the movie completely. An example was a friend of mine who went..."It was OK. I didn't like it too much. The story isn't very interesting...something about religion & science." She obviously hasn't read the book!

I loved the arial shots of Rome. Just LOVED them! The shots of St. Peters Square, the Duomo, the Colosseum, the scenes inside the chapels. Makes my desire to visit Italy (and Europe) even stronger. Such history the city has!

Anyway, coming back to the movie...this one was much better directed & edited than 'The Da Vinci Code'. It was crisp & thrilling, ensuring that the audience doesn't lose attention for even a minute.

As far as the acting was concerned, all the main characters stepped on the gas pretty hard. One doesn't need to mention Tom Hanks. Ewan McGregor played the Camerlengo very well. Even the Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer did a good job of being the "exotic element" in the movie. This movie...or the book...was never about Vittoria Vettra anyway.

The hero of the movie was of course, the book. Dan Brown is probably the only author apart from JK Rowling whose imagination I think is truly out of this world. It's not something they could have acquired, it's something they are totally blessed with. It would've taken an insane amount of research on Catholicism, The Illuminati, The Knights Templar etc. to put the story together, no doubt, but a mindblowing imagination to even have thought of something like this

If you haven't watched the movie yet, I highly recommend doing so. But it would be better if you've read the book first. I think I'm going to go back and read the two books all over again. You go race across Rome!!