Often times, turning an extremely popular book into a film is a daunting task. The book is often times filled with so much detail that to include most of it will lead to a rather slow and ponderous film. I am amazed at how well they have been able to translate the Harry Potter books into so many successful films given how dense the books are. Another author of extremely dense books is Dan Brown.
While Angels and Demons it the first book in the now three book series featuring the Symbologist Robert Langdon, it was not the first of the then 2 books to be made into a film. The first was The Da Vinci Code which in my mind, is the better of the two books. However, Angels and Demons is the better of the two films, as it is faster paced and pulls you into the action much faster than The Da Vinci Code which is slow and ponderous in comparison.
Clearly the director, Ron Howard, learned a few lessons on how to turn a Dan Brown book into a film, learning what to cut and what to change without changing the overall feel and direction of the book. I, for one, can’t wait for the third book, The Lost Symbol, to be made into a film. Now on to the review of Angels and Demons.
Film
Angels and Demons again stars Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, the Harvard Symbolgist who is hired by The Vatican to track down the members of their old nemesis, The Illuminati, who have kidnapped four Cardinals at the commencement of the Conclave called to select a new Pope following the Pope’s recent demise. The four Cardinals are scheduled to be executed one by one at the ttop of each hour beginning at 8 p.m. at undisclosed locations throughout Rome. In addition to racing through the vast number of churches in Rome trying to rescue each of the Cardinals before they are murdered, Robert Langdon and the Swiss Guard must also find a canister of anti-matter that has been stolen from the Cern particle accelerator in Switzerland, which if allowed to come into contact with matter at the designated hour of midnight, will result in the destruction of the Vatican and much of Rome along with the death of millions of people.
Angels and Demons is a fast paced thriller which is a much better film then the Da Vinci Code. Tom Hanks hair in this film is even a marked improvement over his hair in the prior film. If you are not familiar with Dan Brown’s books, the film Angles and Demons will be a perfect introduction for you into the world of Robert Langdon. The Blu-ray release includes the theatrical as well as an extended cut of the film. Both are highly recommended.
Video
This is simply a stunning encode of some pretty difficult material. The encode looks exactly like I remember the film to have looked in the theater. I describe the material as difficult given that most of the film takes place either in the dark or some very dimly lit locations. Despite this, the film maintains and excellent level of clarity throughout, never softening up in the darker scenes as you see with many films.
The colors are well saturated although the overall color palette is a bit muted with the exception of the various shades of red featured in the film. The overall color palette is a bit on the warm side having a bit of a gold tinge, especially fleshtones. Blacks are deep and solid and shadow detail is exceptional. Facial detail and background details are excellent as well, rendering an image of excellent clarity despite the overall dark lighting of the film. Even more important is the total lack of any video noise which can often mar the presentation of darker looking films when transfered to high definition video. While Angels and Demons is not the sharpest looking film I have seen on Blu-ray, it appears to be a totally faithful reproduction of the film and is one that should thrill fans of the film. Well done!
Audio
I was just as pleased with the audio on this release as I was with the video. The level of the overall fidelity of the sound is top notch with a smoothness and openness I found to be very appealing. Transparency and imaging were excellent as were dynamics and bass response. One of the most pleasing aspects of the audio is the reproduction of the musical score which really drives the film. The musical score in a word, sounds fantastic on this release.
The film also features a well balanced sound design with excellent and aggressive use of the surrounds, creating a totally immersive sound field, placing you in the Sistine Chapel with the Cardinals during Conclave or the various churches featured during the film. The dialogue track is very well recorded and well placed in the sound mix and is always clear and intelligible. This an excellent sound design which is beautifully captured on this release, which is encoded with DTS HD Master Audio.
Special Features
Angels and Demons is a three disc set, with disc one featuring the theatrical and extended version of the film. Disc 2 features the supplemental materials with disc 3 containing a digital copy of the film compatible with Macs and PCs. as well as the trial software for Hans Zimmer Music Studio Powered by Sequel 2. The extras are packed with many very interesting featurettes.
The bonus features include the featurette “Rome Was Not Built in a Day”, where the cast and crew show how the various sets were constructed for the film, as location shooting within the Vatican was forbidden. In “Writing Angels and Demons”, Dan Brown and the screenwriters discuss how they adapted the book to the screen. In Characters in Search of the True Story”, the cast share their experiences in bringing their characters to the screen.
The most interesting of all the featurettes, at least to me, is “CERN: Pushing the Frontiers of Knowledge” which actually takes you to CERN where the various scientists involved in the cutting edge particle physics research conducted there are interviewed about the nature of their work. I found all this to be very interesting and informative and well worth a look. Also included is the featurette :Handling the Props” were the filmmakers discuss bringing the props used in the film to life. “Angels and Demons: The Full Story” is a complete behind the scenes look at the making of the film. In “This is an Ambigram”, you get to meet ambigram artist John Langdon who was the inspiration behind the Robert Langdon character created by Dan Brown.
The release is BD-LIve enabled and features movieIQ, which allows you to access continuously updated information on the cast and crew as well as explore relevant trivia about the production of the film, all of which is tied to particular scenes in the film. Also included is cinechat, which enables you to send on screen messages to your friends as you view the film together anywhere around the world. Also included is “The Path to Illumination” where you can follow Robert Langdon on his journey through Rome.
Final Thoughts
Angels and Demons is an excellent film that is a marked improvement over the prior film in the series, The Da Vinci Code. If you were a bit disappointed with The Da Vinci Code, please check out Angels and Demons. You will be glad you did. Highly Recommended.
