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Nitpicking Angels and Demons

My stream of consciousness review/nitpick of the movie Angels and Demons based on the novel by Dan Brown.

Lab coats at CERN! Maybe, but not likely if they are doing all their science sat behind computers. I guess it’s a shortcut to indicate that these people are “scientists”.

Looks like it was really the LHC and the Vatican.

Apparently it wasn’t really the Vatican.

Father Marco Fibbi, a spokesman for the Diocese of Rome, said: “Normally we read the script but this time it was not necessary. The name Dan Brown was enough.”

The ambigram thing that is a significant plot point defies logic as they clearly have been created by the producers of the movie so naturally cannot have been nigh on impossible to create and believable as a thing of myth.

Vittoria upon discovering Silvano murdered says “my God!”. In situations like that surely people revert to their first language which would be Italian in this case so “Dio mio” is more correct.

Illuminati before they became violent were scientists who were driven underground.

– Are you anti-Catholic?
– No I’m anti-vandalism!

Extremely combustible material known as antimatter. Strictly speaking no it isn’t combustible, but how do you describe antimatter/matter annihilation and the resulting massive release of energy? The God particle is mentioned. Not in the book but makes more sense for this to be an issue for the Vatican and the questions over the creation of the universe that this raises. Two opposing forces will annihilate. Paralleling antimatter/matter annihilation with the Vatican/Science conflict.

Destruction of the Vatican through light is the ancient Illuminati threat.

Four fundamental elements of science. Fire, Earth, Air and Water.

1668 – Church kidnapped and branded four scientists.

Neat framing for a thriller in that they have until midnight to thwart the plan to destroy the Vatican.

Would the Camerlengo really be Irish?

Energy research! In reality in order to create antimatter you need to put in more energy than you would get out.

English is the language of radicals. Shakespeare and Chaucer! That is why Galileo used it for his secret path of illumination message.

Treasure hunt where they only work out the next destination just too late.

Better thriller than The Da Vinci Code even if it is based upon pseudoscience and religious myth and misrepresents the conflict between science and religion.

– Stem Cell research is murder.
– Condemning sick people to die.
– Man is not God.

There have been incidents in the past where the Vatican has tried to suppress science and scientists and many religious people nowadays feel under attack by those in the scientific community particular in regards to evolution. But the film really overhypes the situation. The conflict between science and religion isn’t really that extreme.

It’s a race against time to save the cardinals and yet Langdon still has time to wash himself and change his clothes. Plus they are being extremely slow in the switching off lights sector by sector in the Vatican city plan.

How does Vittoria, a physicist, have knowledge outside of her field of expertise and be able to describe the signs of a possible overdose of the Pope’s medicine?

Why would the Vatican archives not have a failsafe should power be lost? In this case it is obviously not an accident as it would mean having to turn of the backup as well as the primary power to the archives. This coupled with the theory that the pope was murdered indicates an inside job and hence a very limited number of suspects. However neither group knows at this point of the information the other has gathered.

Camerlengo arguing for a kind of Vatican III. End the brutal battle between science and religion. Science too young to understand.

The pacing of the film is wildly off. The second hour i.e. between murders 2&3 is much longer than the first and third hours. Between the third and fourth murder 14 minutes shrinks to 5 minutes in about 30 seconds.

Good misdirection with the mercenary, he’s in it for the money not for the cause, and then Commander Richter of the Swiss Guard acting strangely.

Why was Silvano conflicted? Is it only about the so called God particle? Surely he was pursuing this area of study to prove God’s part in creation not dismiss God as creator.

And again the Camerlengo must be lacking in faith if he believes that science was seeking to and could take away the power of creation.

Doesn’t matter whether you believe or not events can be interpreted both ways. God sent Langdon to save the church or perhaps he did not.

More factual errors made by Dan Brown in the novel Angels and Demons.

CERN’s response to the questions moviewatchers may have about them and the LHC following the movie.

Edit: More things occur to me regarding the film.

Why reveal the plan to kill the cardinals at the appointed hours? It only introduces more chnace for the plan to fail.

You can understand why the Swiss Guard might initially be distrustful of Langdon but why when he has proved himself as on the same side do they continue to hinder his efforts.

Also the film will further the confusion of laypeople between the creation of antimatter and the search for the so called God particle at CERN.

By Matt Wharton

Matt Wharton is a dad, vlogger and IT Infrastructure Consultant. He was also in a former life a cinema manager.

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