Bianca Gubalke Copyright © 2009. Published at Bianca Gubalke.

Angels and Demons

Angels and Demons Film Review

When a friend invited me to the movie “Angels & Demons” the title rang a bell, but it was only when I saw the first breath-taking scenes – where scientists successfully start the ‘Large Hadron Collider’ and manage to create 3 vials of antimatter in CERN, one of which is immediately stolen by a killer and so the story starts… – that I knew that it was based on a best-selling mystery-thriller by Dan Brown I couldn’t put down some years ago when the novel was published.

Galileo Galilei

The Plot of the story is based on the old and fierce conflict between Science and the Roman Catholic Church… taking up the ancient thread with the Italian physicist, mathematician and astronomer of whom Stephen Hawkins said that he  “. . . perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science” … and who was tried and severely punished by the Roman Inquisition for his revolutionary view of a heliocentric vision of the Earth – meaning that the Earth is not the motionless centre of the Universe (geocentric) as the Roman Catholic Church clerics vehemently maintained… We are talking of none other than Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) … the genius who founded the secret Illuminati movement in opposition to the enemy, the Roman Catholic Church…  A movement that was forced to go underground and was thought to have disappeared long ago. . .

So for the background of the movie “Angels and Demons” we have :

…  modern Science with remarkable technological advances and playing “God” in some clerics’ eyes. . .  and

…  the Roman Catholic world mourning the passing of the Pope and the Vatican preparing the Conclave for the selection of the next Pope. Meanwhile, the “Camerlengo” is in charge of the day-to-day operations until the new Pope is chosen – that’s the opulent setting, embedded in the historically rich and architecturally extraordinary scenery of Rome and the Vatican… with masses of faithful Catholics flocking to St. Peter’s Square to wait and watch until the white smoke from the Conclave would be announcing the new Pope… the chosen one…

Little do they know what’s happening behind the scenes. . .

Click HERE for the short Movie Trailer (disabled for embedding…)

St. Peter's Square, Vatican

Here’s the sudden twist:

Just before enclosing themselves in Conclave to elect the new Pope, the 4 most likely candidates disappear… and it’s the ‘Illuminati’ – that 400-year old secret society – who threaten to kill them at 8, 9, 10 and 11 pm and to set the Vatican on fire in a “burst of light” at midnight. The bitter reality of this terrible threat is proven with fresh video footage showing the 4 kidnapped Cardinals and… the vial of antimatter, the literal time bomb.

So the clock is ticking… and believe me, you hear it in your heart… from now on it’s Action… it’s a question of life and death for many – first the victims, then the masses on St. Peter’s Square and Rome and far beyond…  as the detonation power of this vial of antimatter is extremely powerful and ‘terminating’.

What or who could help in this situation?

Who could find the secret hiding place of the Illuminati… and with it rescue the Cardinals and most importantly, the antimatter… before it is too late? Before it is 8pm… 9 pm… 10 pm… 11 pm… midnight? Rescue the Vatikan… rescue Rome?

The answer is controversial author and Harvard symbologist Dr. Robert Langdon – brilliantly played by Tom Hanks – who has discovered evidence of the resurgence of this ancient secret brotherhood – the Illuminati – the most powerful secret organization in history… and who despises the Roman Catholic Church.

However, many lives are at peril and when he’s summoned to the Vatican, he follows and teams up with beautiful scientist Vittoria Vetra… and from now on we become part of a breath-taking non-stop hunt following a trail of ancient Illuminati symbols through  crypts, eerie catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and into the ‘angelic’ center of the most secretive vault on earth… to rescue the Vatikan… to rescue Rome.

Film Cast and Production

I won’t tell you more as if you enjoy the topic and the thrill you better go and see it – it’s good entertainment! Having a professional background in filmmaking, I visualized a movie from the start when steaming through the pages almost 10 years ago. . . now it’s here. The film rights were purchased by Sony and besides the shootings in Rome, the rest was produced in the Sony Pictures Studios in L.A….

Armin Mueller-Stahl

The highly successful  sequel to “The Da Vinci Code” (2003) is directed by Ron Howard and features stars like Tom Hanks and a German gentleman and top award-winning actor I always admired, Armin Mueller-Stahl… unbelievable 80 years of age today…

Box office

The official release was just recently on 15 May 2009… and according to official sources, the movie “Angels & Demons” grossed $152 million worldwide in its opening weekend, and, within its first week, reached the #1 position at the Box Office – before Star Trek!

Sounds almost like Google rankings… doesn’t it?

Happy Watchin… and though there are fortunately only a few visually brutal scenes, keep the seatbelts fastened as there’s a lot of thrill – and some really magnificent scenes… !

Bianca Gubalke

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