Ironically lacking soul.
It is a dicey endeavor to create suspense when a presumed 80% of your audience already know how it is going to end. Fortunately there are some alterations that were made from the book version, which I am obviously not going to reveal, but anyone who read the page-turner has a pretty good idea what is going to happen. James Cameron managed to catch me off guard when the Titanic finally sank, but that is another ballpark or in this case, universe.
And the universe is where the dichotomy of this movie cleverly hides. There is the fight for universal copyright (who created what?) and the hunt for salvation from a deadly detonation. Now that I am writing this it might just boil down to the same thing. Could Dan Brown actually be on to something here?
These are truly interesting questions that were not explored to the fullest of their potential, which would be truly Sisyphean. But that is really Captain Subtext talking or Father Subtext in this case. The Dan Brown trademark symbology scavenger hunt is what dictates the pace of the movie, openly cloaked in some Indiana Jones style church-bashing. Shoot first, ask questions later. And then pray for forgiveness
Everything else is philosophy.
The writers David Koepp and Akiva Goldsman certainly distilled the necessary ingredients for this to work (for anybody) but the movie in itself is not allowing you even to catch your breath and think about them.
It starts with a lesson in Vatican etiquette and a trip to CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), where antimatter is created and then stolen. The two are linked. For the un-initiated: Antimatter is a powerful substance, somewhat like a tiny atom bomb that could be hazardous to millions of people in the hands of the wrong people. Speaking of the wrong people: The Holy See is threatened whilst vacant. The Swiss Guard and a beautiful Doctor lady get involved. And Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) finds himself trying to prevent a terrorist act against the Vatican, helping his old enemies trying to fight their old enemies.
What then follows is a breathless race where Robert Landgon tries to find the Illuminati (I won’t ruin the mystery by explaining who they are). There are clues all over Rome at strategically touristy places, which have to be found before the Vatican is annihilated during the Conclave (meeting of the College of Cardinals convened to elect the pope). Robert Langdon seems to be the only person who knows everything about the Vatican and with a little help from upstairs (way, way upstairs) he finds the signs and treads on the “path of light”. Ironically this focus on the hunt results in a lack of life and soul for the movie. It is just clue after clue.
The crew ran into a lot of problems when the Vatican revoked all permits to shoot even in the vicinity of Vatican City. I can just hear a prop guy say: “So you want me to build a replica of St. Peter’s Square?”
Unfortunately it shows. Ron Howard is a good director, but in some scenes it is just too obvious that there were problems during the shoot. Clearly everyone knows what they were doing and this could have been a catastrophe, which it is not. It is entertaining, but left me breathless for the wrong reasons. There are some great mano-a-mano discussions and action and when the story diverted from the original, it became fascinating.
There is a great international cast including Ewan McGregor as Camerlengo Patrick McKenna, Stellan Skarsgård as Commander Richter, Armin Mueller-Stahl as Cardinal Strauss. And Ayelet Zurer as Vittoria Vetra, that’s Dr. Vetra. Sadly she is just a scientist appendage in heels running behind Tom Hanks.
Sometimes you just have to listen to your soul, not the marketing department.
Let’s not make this more than it is. But if you can get free publicity from the Vatican you have my blessing.
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