Sunday, May 31, 2009

Movie Review: Angels and Demons

After I read this book by Dan Brown, I've been eagerly waiting to watch this movie and it finally released in India yesterday. The book was definitely a good read, it had everything that a mystery/thriller novel should have. (Click here to read my review of the book). My first impression was that the book was more apt for a movie becoz of all the masala and high intensity drama...so I was all the more keen to watch this translate into the big screen...

Whoever said 'dont judge a book by its movie' said it right! I didn't enjoy the movie as much as I liked reading the book. It is obvious that a 600page book cannot be made into a 2.5hr movie with that level of detail. But there was a serious lack of adrenalin in the movie. I was also a bit disappointed with the change of plot and the drastic reduction in Vittoria Vetra's (the female lead) role. It was almost as if she was insignificant. She played a very important role in the book and her revenge against her father's murder was the main focus. But that was completely removed here and she was made to look like a redudant actor. I had even expected a different climax but was glad that it wasn't completely different from that of the book. Even though the story was altered, it was at least weaved in well to reach a logical ending...

Tom Hanks as harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is quite impressive though the script doesnt do enough justice to showcase his ability of solving those cryptic puzzles to find the path of illumination. Last but not the least, I loved the visuals and effects. It was a treat to see those monuments, churches, symbols, statues etc described in the book! That's probably the only part of the movie that I liked. I'd anyday prefer the book over the movie :)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Rightly said..When we read books we expect them to keep it whole in the movie.Visuals were super cool but story line made we wince so many times.
I am now dreading what's gonna happen with the Harry Potter movie releasing next month.Hope they dont alter it much.

Unknown said...

@Shona - I've never read Harry Potter books, so I always enjoy watching those movies! :)

Unknown said...

I think you must read them.If you like the movies you will like the Books even better..