Angels & Demons is a 2009 American mystery thriller film directed by Ron Howard and written by Akiva Goldsman and David Koepp. It is based on Dan Brown's 2000 novel of the same title. A sequel to the 2006 film The Da Vinci Code, also directed by Howard, it is the second installment in the Robert Langdon film series; however, the novel version was published before The Da Vinci Code novel.
Filming took place primarily between June and October 2008 in Rome, Italy, and the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. Tom Hanks reprises his role as Professor Robert Langdon, while Ayelet Zurer stars as Dr. Vittoria Vetra, a CERN scientist joining Langdon in the quest to recover a missing vial of antimatter from a mysterious Illuminati terrorist. Producer Brian Grazer, composer Hans Zimmer and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman also return, with Koepp coming on board to help the latter.
Angels and Demons premiered in Rome on May 4, 2009, and was released on May 15, by Sony Pictures Releasing through its Columbia Pictures label. It grossed $485.9 million worldwide against a $150 million production budget, becoming the ninth highest-grossing film of 2009, and received mixed reviews from critics, who considered it an improvement over its predecessor. A sequel, titled Inferno, concluded the series in 2016.
Plot
Mourning Pope Pius XVI's sudden death, the Catholic Church prepares the papal conclave to elect his successor. Fr. Patrick McKenna, the Camerlengo, temporarily controls the Vatican during the sede vacante.
Meanwhile, at CERN, scientists Fr. Silvano Bentivoglio and Dr. Vittoria Vetra create three antimatter canisters. Checking on them, Vetra finds Bentivoglio murdered and one canister gone. Shortly thereafter, four preferiti are kidnapped by a supposed Illuminati representative. The Vatican discovers one cardinal will die each hour, from 8p.m. to midnight, when the antimatter explodes, destroying the city.
Claudio Vicenzi recruits American symbologist Professor Robert Langdon to help, for his experience with the Priory of Sion in Paris and London. He deduces the four murders will occur on the four altars of the "Path of Illumination", relevant to the classical elements. Langdon is granted access to the Vatican Secret Archive to research the altars, against the head of the Swiss Guard Commander Richter's wishes.
Galileo's banned book gives clues to the first altar. Initially believing it is the Pantheon, they realise it is the Chigi Chapel. Richter dismissively abandons them, but two Vatican City police officers rush them there. Too late, Cardinal Ebner has suffocated through a mouth full of dirt, and is branded with "Earth".
A clue at the Chigi Chapel's Bernini statue leads Langdon to the next altar, another sculpture in St. Peter's Square. Again arriving late, Cardinal Lamassé's lungs are punctured and he is branded with "Air". A note left makes Vetra suspect Pius XVI's "stroke" was actually a tinzaparin overdose, which they secretly confirm this inspecting his body in the necropolis.
Langdon and the officers hurry to the altar of fire, the Santa Maria della Vittoria. Cardinal Guidera has been burned to death, branded with "Fire". The assassin then kills all but Langdon before escaping.
The final altar is Piazza Navona's Four Rivers sculpture. The incompetent Richter demands Langdon return to the Vatican, but he and two policemen catch the assassin drowning Cardinal Baggia, who is branded with "Water", in a fountain. He kills the officers and escapes, but Langdon and bystanders rescue Baggia. He reveals the preferiti were held in Castel Sant'Angelo.
When Richter confiscates Dr. Silvano's journals, Vetra believes he is involved. She and Langdon storm Castel Sant'Angelo, the assassin's lair, find the four brands, and deduce a missing fifth one is meant for McKenna. The assassin confronts them, but leaves them both unharmed. He insists clergy hired him, suggesting they "be careful".
The assassin's anonymous contact guides him to a bomb-rigged escape car. Langdon and Vetra find a secret passageway to the Vatican, warning the Swiss Guard of McKenna's fate. They find Richter hovering over a branded McKenna. The Swiss Guard shoot and kill him and alleged co-conspirator Archbishop Simeon. Langdon retrieves a key from the dying Richter's hand.
The antimatter container is found in Saint Peter's tomb, set to detonate in five minutes. As the cold temperature has prematurely drained the battery keeping the antimatter in suspension, it will not reach midnight. So, former helicopter pilot McKenna flies the canister into the sky, parachuting out seconds before the antimatter detonates. This unleashes a powerful, blinding shockwave throughout Vatican City, but no one dies and the Church is saved. Hailed a hero, there are calls to elect him pope by acclamation.
Langdon and Vetra discover Silvano's journals reference hidden security cameras monitoring the Pope for medical reasons. With Richter's key, they find footage showing McKenna masterminded the attacks. He orchestrated Pius XVI's death, as the latter wanted the antimatter to be publicly presented as proof of a divine power using science. Considering this blasphemy, McKenna hired the assassin to get him elected pope, making the Illuminati the scapegoat. When the conclave sees the evidence, McKenna immolates himself to avoid arrest.
Cardinal Baggia becomes pope. He takes the name Pope Luke, as the biblical Luke was both a doctor and apostle – symbolically bridging the gap between science and religion. The Vatican hides McKenna's treachery by announcing parachute landing injury complications killed him, leading to calls for sainthood. Cardinal Strauss, the Pope's new camerlengo, loans Galileo's book to Langdon in thanks, requesting its return upon his death. Pope Luke thankfully nods to Langdon and Vetra before greeting the masses with the traditional first Urbi et Orbi.
Cast
Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, a Harvard University professor of symbology. Ewan McGregor as Fr. Patrick McKenna, the Camerlengo. Ayelet Zurer as Dr. Vittoria Vetra, a CERN scientist whose antimatter experiment has allegedly been stolen by the Illuminati. Stellan Skarsgård as Commander Maximilian Richter, head of the Swiss Guard. Pierfrancesco Favino as Inspector General Ernesto Olivetti of the Gendarme Corps of Vatican City State. Nikolaj Lie Kaas as the assassin. Armin Mueller-Stahl as Cardinal Strauss, Dean of the College of Cardinals and the papal conclave. Thure Lindhardt as Lieutenant Chartrand, officer of the Swiss Guard. David Pasquesi as Claudio Vincenzi, a Vatican police officer sent to summon Langdon. Cosimo Fusco as Archbishop Simeon, prefect of the papal household. Victor Alfieri as Lieutenant Valenti, a Carabinieri officer who takes Langdon to the Fountain of the Four Rivers. Carmen Argenziano as Fr. Silvano Bentivoglio, a Catholic priest and a CERN scientist who performed the antimatter experiment along with Dr. Vetra. Marc Fiorini as Cardinal Baggia, one of the four preferiti and a cardinal from Milan, Italy and the favorite to succeed as the new pope; he later becomes Pope Luke. Bob Yerkes as Cardinal Guidera, one of the four preferiti and a cardinal from Barcelona, Spain. Franklin Amobi as Cardinal Lamassé, one of the four preferiti and a cardinal from Paris, France. Curt Lowens as Cardinal Ebner, one of the four preferiti and a cardinal from Frankfurt, Germany. Todd Schneider as a Carabiniere, Lieutenant Valenti's partner who along with him takes Langdon to the Fountain of the Four Rivers. Anna Katarina as a docent, the Pantheon tour guide who tells Langdon the name of the first church. Howard Mungo as Cardinal Yoruba Rance Howard as Cardinal Beck Steve Franken as Cardinal Colbert Gino Conforti as Cardinal Pugini Elya Baskin as Cardinal Petrov August Wittgenstein as a Swiss Guard
Production
Development In 2003, Sony Pictures acquired the film rights to Angels & Demons along with The Da Vinci Code in a deal with author Dan Brown. In May 2006, following the release of the 2006 film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, Sony Pictures hired screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, who wrote the film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, to adapt Angels & Demons. Filming was originally to begin in February 2008 and it was originally going to be released on December 19, 2008; because of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, the film was pushed back for May 15, 2009. David Koepp rewrote the script before shooting began.
Director Ron Howard chose to treat Angels & Demons as a sequel to the previous film, rather than a prequel, since many had read the novel after The Da Vinci Code. He liked the idea that Langdon had been through one adventure and become a more confident character. Howard was also more comfortable taking liberties in adapting the story because this novel was less popular than The Da Vinci Code. Producer Brian Grazer said they were too "reverential" when adapting The Da Vinci Code, which resulted in it being "a little long and stagey". This time, "Langdon doesn't stop and give a speech. When he speaks, he's in motion." Howard concurred "it's very much about modernity clashing with antiquity and technology vs. faith, so these themes, these ideas are much more active whereas the other one lived so much in the past. The tones are just innately so different between the two stories."
Differences between novel and film In the novel, the papal conclave attracts relatively little public attention. In the wake of the huge international interest in the 2005 election of Pope Benedict XVI, this was judged to be out of date. The character of CERN Director Maximillian Kohler does not appear in the film. The Italian Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca is changed to the Irish Patrick McKenna, portrayed by Ewan McGregor. The Lockheed Martin X-33 that takes Langdon from the United States to Geneva and then to Rome is absent in the film. Langdon's visit to CERN is absent in the film. In the novel, Commander Olivetti is the commander of Swiss Guard, and his second in command is Captain Rocher, whereas in the film, Rocher (changed to Richter) is the head of the Swiss Guard. In the novel, the assassin contacts members of the BBC in order to influence how they present the story of his activities, but this does not happen in the film. The character Leonardo Vetra is named Silvano Bentivoglio in the film, is not related to Vittoria, and his death scene is changed. Vittoria is a love interest for Langdon in the novel while there is no attraction present in the film. In the novel, Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca is revealed to be the late pope's biological son while in the film he is his adoptive son. In the film, the Camerlengo briefly acknowledges Langdon's involvement in some events of the previous film when in the book it does not, as the events in The Da Vinci Code are yet to take place. This is due to the fact that The Da Vinci Code was adapted to film before Angels & Demons. In the book, the assassin has Middle Eastern looks whereas in the film he is portrayed by a Danish actor. In the film, he is killed by a car bomb whereas in the book he falls from a balcony at the top of the Castel Sant'Angelo. He consequently breaks his back on a pile of marble cannonballs, an injury which eventually kills him. In the novel, Vittoria is kidnapped whereas in the film she joins Langdon almost everywhere. In the book, all four preferiti are killed by the assassin and eventually the high elector, Cardinal Saverio Mortati, is elected as the new pope whereas in the film, the fourth preferito, Cardinal Baggia, is saved by Langdon and is elected the new pope. The high elector, renamed Cardinal Strauss, becomes the camerlengo to the new pope. In the book, the fifth brand is one that incorporates all four words from the previous four whereas in the film the fifth brand is the crossed keys, symbolic of the papacy.