Few saving Graces for Angels and Demons
By Phillip Sayblack
Monday, November 30, 2009
Author Dan Brown has made a name for himself with his books centered around professor Robet Langdon. Brown’s fans have come to know Langdon as a globe trotting intellectual counterpart to Indiana Jones in a manner of speakiong. The only difference between the two is that in Brown’s works, Langdon doesn’t get the girl. And thanks to Langdon’s trek across Euope in ‘The Da Vinci Code’, Dan Brown has become a household name. But now, in the big screen rendition of his first book, ‘Angels and Demons’, Langdon’s recent adventure has hardly risen to expectations. The resulting harsh critiques are not fully justified, though. This story is entirely different from that of ‘The Da Vinci Code.‘
‘Angels and Demons’ is controversial, but only to a certain extent, as it is a tech-based murder mystery. Yes there is a direct tie to religion. But because so few audiences know about or pay attention to the current search for the alleged “God Particle”, the use of this as a basis for the plot may very well turn many audiences off. The controversy over whether Jesus had a child is much more hard hitting worldwide than how the big bang really happened (or if it happened) to most people. With this in mind, we have the importance of why ‘The Da Vinci Code’ was released before ‘Angels and Demons’. Had the movies been released in tandem with the books, audiences would likely have given ‘The Da Vinci Code’ far less of a chance both on bookstore shelves and in theaters.
The subject matter of ‘Angels and Demons’ isn’t the only factor that may have led to less than spectacular reviews. In the three books about Langdon, Brown is still struggling somewhat with the pacing of his story. This story is a very fast paced work. Because of the plot, it has to move fast. But it moves so fast that it is easy to get lost. It’s the exact opposite of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ in that the latter moved extremely slow. So while the story is interesting in ‘Angels and Demons’, its pace makes the story somewhat difficult to follow. This, combined with the tech-based plot are what have made the story difficult to enjoy. But on the other hand, if this story had been at all similar to ‘The Da Vinci Code’ it would have likely fared far worse than it did. And now, as a result of the mostly lackluster reviews, and ticket sales, one can’t help but wonder if Ron Howard, and his team of writers will attempt a big screen rendition of ‘The Lost Symbol’, or will that book remain ‘lost’.
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