Angels & Demons (2009)

**

Sequel to "The DaVinci Code".

Hundreds of years ago, the Catholic Church was against a secret society called the Illuminati.  The Illuminati is now back to seek revenge on events from long ago.  Four Cardinals that could soon be the next Pope are kidnapped and a bomb has been placed somewhere in Vatican City.  After a clue is given, Tom Hanks is hired to decipher them and to find the Cardinals and the bomb.  

I thought that the movie was very good.  It reminded me of the film "Seven" and the television show "24".  It is learned that the bomb will go off at Midnight, but in the hours before, each of the captured Cardinals will be killed.  Hanks follows clues given by the killer to figure out where the next Cardinal will be killed.  I thought the clues were very clever.  They may not all be factual, but it is still interesting.  

Some of the deaths in this film are pretty graphic.  The most disturbing scene to me was when one of the Cardinals was found dead with rats eating away at his skin.  

I think the most suspenseful scene involves Hanks inside the Vatican Archives.  When the power goes out, no oxygen is being released inside.  Hanks has to find a way to escape.  It looked like death was the only way out.  

An underlying tone of the film was whether science or religion was the correct way of thinking.  I thought it was very creative the way that the film shows science being used by religion.  They need to exist together.  The only thing that bugged me about it was the ending.  They basically tell the audience that science and religion must exist together.  They didn't have to be so on the nose.  The audience could have figured it out. 

In fact, the entire ending I thought was a little disappointing.  I thought it was very predictable and a bit far fetched.  Even with this ending, it is still a good film that I would watch again.

B+  I recommend it.