Reaction: Angels and Demons Movie Adaptation

Like many people, I have the handicap of not being able to judge the movie solely on its own merits, having practically memorized the book. So I have to begin by pointing out the main discrepancies between the two versions.

- Vittoria Vetra’s “research partner” Silvano was not present in the book; the priest/scientist who headed the antimatter project was Leonardo Vetra, Vittoria’s adoptive father. (That stole a lot of tension from Vetra’s character.)
- One main character in the book, Maximillian Kohler, was completely cut from the movie. He was the director of CERN, and was supposed to be present during the climactic scene where the Camerlengo branded himself.
- The fifth brand in the book was not the two-key symbol that appeared in the movie; it was a square ambigram of the four elements. (In my opinion, that made it lose the essence of symmetry.)
- Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca’s motive was also not present. In the book, Ventresca murdered the pope after finding out that he was the pope’s son. What he didn’t know was that the late pope did not do anything wrong because it was done through artificial insemination... which then explained why he did not see science as the enemy (since he was able to conceive a child without violating his vows). This was also a main point, since the pope was contacted by Vetra precisely because the pope was not against science. In the movie, it appeared that Ventresca’s motive, besides anger, was to become the pope by “acclamation by adoration.” Although it must be said that the intention to unite the Church by fear was both present.
- Some minor characters that were cut from the movie: Gunther Click, the BBC reporter, and Chinita Macri, his videographer.
- The line “My mind tells me I will never understand God... My heart tells me I am not meant to,” was spoken by Vittoria Vetra, not by Robert Langdon.
- Cardinal Baggia (water) died in the book but lived to become pope in the movie.
- Grand Elector Saverio Mortati, also not present in the movie, became pope in the book. He was also the Devil’s Advocate during the late pope’s reign, and was the only other person who knew that the pope had a son by artificial insemination.
- Vetra and Langdon became a couple in the book (then broke up shortly before The Da Vinci Code).
- There was originally no witness to the scene where the Camerlengo lit himself with butane.

...

I still stand by the conviction that Hanks does not fit the Langdon role. Zurer, however, was a good Vittoria, save for the fact that a lot of the tension and emotion she could have worked with was not included in the movie’s plot. By removing Leonardo Vetra, Vittoria was simply an incidental character. McGregor as Ventresca was a wise decision, although removing his relationship with the late pope was not. And then there’s the matter of Maximillian Kohler. I still wonder why they removed him. It’s simply not as complete without the wheelchaired-man who practically held the book together.

So, what I really want to say is... I did not like the movie adaptation at all. It could have been better. The Illuminati were not as played up as they could have been, and unmasking the hassassin stole a great deal of mystery from the murder sequences. Many of the conflicts that made the book’s plot work were altogether scratched, and the intricate elements that made it unique were overlooked.

The cinematography was okay. Not excellent, but okay enough to keep me watching towards the end. Somehow I feel that the sculptures were not given enough credit, and the setting itself was not sufficiently played up. It was Vatican, for heaven’s sake.

I am probably this annoyed only because I actually waited for this movie to come out. Maybe I should just stop watching movie adaptations of books. They almost always fail anyway.