Angels & Demons (2009)

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 Langdonfilm series; however, the novel version was published before The Da Vinci Code novel.

Filming took place 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 the Columbia Pictures banner. 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.

Storyline[]

The Catholic Church mourns the sudden death of Pope Pius XVI, and prepares for the papal conclave to elect his successor in Vatican City. Father Patrick McKenna, the Camerlengo, temporarily controls the Vatican during the sede vacante period. Meanwhile at CERN, scientists Father Silvano Bentivoglio and Dr. Vittoria Vetra create three canisters of antimatter. As Vetra goes to evaluate the experiment, she discovers that Silvano has been murdered, and one canister stolen. Shortly thereafter, four of the preferiti, the favored candidates to be elected pope, are kidnapped by a man claiming to represent the Illuminati. He sends the Vatican a warning, claiming he will murder each of the cardinals, one every hour, from 8 p.m. to midnight, when the stolen antimatter, hidden in a secret location, will explode and destroy the city.

Due to his involvement with the Priory of Sion in Paris and London, American symbologist Professor Robert Langdon is brought to the Vatican by Claudio Vicenzi to help. After listening to the assassin's threat, he deduces that the four cardinals will be murdered on the four altars of the "Path of Illumination", in locations relevant to the classical elements. McKenna gives Langdon access to the Vatican Secret Archives to research the altars, against the wishes of Commander Richter, head of the Swiss Guard. Langdon and Vetra examine a banned book by Galileo Galilei, finding clues to the first altar. Initially believing it to be at the Pantheon, they eventually discover it to be the Chigi Chapel. Though they rush to the chapel, accompanied by Ernesto Olivetti and Claudio Vincenzi of the Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City, they are too late to save Cardinal Ebner, who they discover suffocated on a mouthful of dirt and branded with the ambigrammatic word "Earth".

Following the clue left at a Bernini statue at the Chigi Chapel, Langdon discovers the second altar is a Bernini-created sculpture in St. Peter's Square. Upon reaching it, they find Cardinal Lamassé mortally wounded, his lungs punctured and his chest branded with the ambigram "Air". A threatening note left on Lamassé's body leads Vetra to suspect that Pius XVI did not die of a stroke, but was murdered with an overdose of tinzaparin, which he took for his thrombophlebitis. This is confirmed when McKenna and Vetra secretly inspect the pope's body in the Vatican necropolis. After returning to the Archives for further research, Langdon, Olivetti, and Vincenzi identify the Santa Maria della Vittoria as the altar of fire, where they fail to save Cardinal Guidera, branded with the ambigram "Fire", from burning to death; the assassin appears and kills everyone except Langdon before escaping.

After consulting a map of Rome, Langdon identifies the final altar as Piazza Navona's Four Rivers sculpture. Escorted by two Vatican police officers, they find the assassin attempting to drown Cardinal Baggia, who is branded with the ambigram "Water". The officers are killed by the assassin, but Langdon, aided by bystanders, rescues Baggia. Baggia tells Langdon he was held with the other preferiti in Castel Sant'Angelo.

Richter confiscates Dr. Silvano's journals, thus convincing Vetra that he is a conspirator. Langdon, Vetra, and the police storm Castel Sant'Angelo. Langdon and Vetra find the assassin's lair, discovering the four brands used on the cardinals, and deduce that a missing fifth one is meant for McKenna. The assassin confronts them, but leaves the two unharmed. He claims he was hired by "men of God" and warns them to "be careful". Guided to an escape car by the anonymous contact he had been messaging with, the assassin is killed when it explodes. Langdon and Vetra find a secret passageway leading to the Vatican, warning the Swiss Guard of McKenna's fate. They find Richter hovering over a branded McKenna. Richter and Archbishop Simeon, another alleged conspirator, are shot and killed by the Swiss Guard. Langdon retrieves a key from the dying Richter's hand.

The antimatter container is found in Saint Peter's tomb, due to detonate in five minutes. The cold temperature has prematurely drained the battery (according to Vetra, the device would not have enough residual charge to keep the antimatter in suspension all the way until midnight). McKenna, a former helicopter pilot, seizes the canister and pilots a helicopter into the sky, parachuting out seconds before the antimatter detonates. The explosion unleashes a powerful, blinding shockwave throughout Vatican City, but no lives are lost and the Church is saved. McKenna is hailed as a hero, with calls for him to be elected pope by acclamation.

Langdon and Vetra retrieve Silvano's journals from Richter's office, finding he kept tabs on the Pope with hidden security cameras for medical reasons. Using the key Langdon retrieved from Richter, they discover from the security footage that McKenna was the true mastermind behind the attacks. The Pope had invited Silvano to publicly present the antimatter as proof of a divine power, bridging the gap between religion and science and potentially ending the conflict between them. Considering such a claim blasphemy, McKenna orchestrated Pius XVI's death and hired the assassin, plotting to have himself elected as pope while making the Illuminati the scapegoat. The evidence is shown to the papal conclave. McKenna, realizing he has been exposed, commits suicide via self-immolation.

The following morning, Cardinal Baggia is elected as the new pope. He chooses to take the name Pope Luke, an allusion to the biblical Luke being both a doctor and an apostle—symbolically bridging the gap between science and religion. To cover up McKenna's treachery, the Vatican also announces he has died from injuries from his parachute landing, leading to calls for sainthood. Cardinal Strauss, the Pope's new camerlengo, gives Galileo's book to Langdon as thanks for his help, asking that he ensure it returns to the Vatican in his last will and testament. Pope Luke gives Langdon and Vetra a thankful nod, before stepping out on the balcony to greet the crowd below and give the traditional first Urbi et Orbi as pope.

Angels & Demons (2009)

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