Angels & Demons

After all these weeks of ill-health (not that I'm in the pink of health NOW anyway), I finally got round to watching Angels & Demons last night with a slight trace of a cough and phlegm buildup which I can't seem to be rid of (urgh). Went with friend Ivan who's always nice enough to give me a ride (heh heh) and because of the timing, got two tickets to see the 2D screening of the movie. (I asked the person at the box office the difference - apparently 2D means it's NOT the run of the mill projector version). And because it's Wednesday, it's still RM7 each. Not bad what. Ha ha.

Because the 2D version is not available in all the cineplexes (apparently only certain GSC outlets), I have to say that: holy shit, it is DAMN clear - it's like watching HD content on a widescreen TV. (If you're those people who download TV shows as they come out in America and don't watch on Astro later...) At least it's not in 3D :P

[If you don't already know what the story is about: read the book or look it up on Wikipedia or the spoiler sites. Can't be arsed. As it's been out long enough, I'm gonna spoil, spoil, spoil - if you've not seen it til now, well... deal with it.]

So Ron Howard took out a character or two, changed a few around and 86-ed a subplot or two. Which is just as well, or else the movie would run for about three hours (at nearly 2.5 hours, it was long enough). For the sake of brevity.

I like that he took out the sexual tension between Langdon and Vittoria.

Let me get this out of the way - at least Tom Hanks' hair is better in this one. There.

I think I kinda get why they changed Vittoria's adopted father (in the book) to "research partner" Silvano in the movie. But a younger, hot chick calling an old man her "research partner" brings about certain connotations...

I don't get why Ewan McGregor was in this one as the camerlengo/antagonist - they had to change the name and the nationality of the character from Italian to Irish (Carlo Ventresca to Jack McKenna). Like that they might as well make the character Scottish lah, make it easier on everyone :P I guess they need another recognisable face besides Tom Hanks as most of the secondary cast are European actors that American audiences wouldn't recognise.

Stellan Skarsgard as Richter - finally in a serious role; not wearing prosthetic makeup and not singing and dancing. Heh. I thought the guy playing the assassin was not bad looking also.

As I watch this, I can't help but think that Ayelet Zurer as Vittoria reminds me of a younger, skinnier Nigella as she's dressed in dark colours in this one. Seriously. You can't watch this and not think that.

I get that the Catholic rites depicted in the movie can't be totally accurate, but all the old guys in conclave with so many yards of lace between them... a bit disturbing lah.

As someone who's read the book, I thought it was not bad lah... if you don't mind a lot of dead old guys...