Movie: Angels & Demons (2009)

“When a murder of a physicist, Leonardo Vetra, finds a symbolist, Robert Langdon, and Mr. Vetra’s daughter, Vittoria, on an adventure for a secret brotherhood, The Illuminati. Clues lead them all around the Vatican, including the four alters of science, Earth, Air, Fire and Water. An Assassin, working for the Illuminati, has captured four cardinals, and murders each, painfully. Robert and Vittoria also are searching for a new very destructive weapon that could kill millions. Written by XXDustfingerXX”

  • Director: Ron Howard
  • Release Date: 15 May 2009 (USA)
  • Run Time: 138 min
  • Country: USA
  • Genre: Crime , Drama , Mystery , Thriller
  • MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence, disturbing images and thematic material.

Tagline: The holiest event of our time. Perfect for their return.

Trivia: Thure Lindhardt was nearly cast as Silas in The Da Vinci Code (2006). Ron Howard liked his audition so much that he offered him the role of Chartrand in this movie.

In Rome, the Vatican mourns the passing of the Pope. The Vatican staff prepares for the Conclave of the College of Cardinals, which will select the next Pope. Until the Conclave selects a new Pope, the Camerlengo (Ewan McGregor) assumes day-to-day control of the Vatican. Reporters, nuns, priests and other faithful all crowd into St. Peter’s Square, waiting for the white smoke from the Conclave. But the Illuminati, a 400-year old, underground secret society, kidnaps the four most likely candidates (preferratti) before the Conclave goes into seclusion. The Illuminati threatens to kill them at 8, 9, 10 and 11 PM, and then destroy the Vatican in a burst of light at midnight. A video feed shows the missing anti-matter vial, which will destroy the Vatican and parts of nearby Rome when the magnetic containment field fails.

The Vatican summons Drs. Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) and Vittoria Vetra from CERN to help them solve the Illuminati’s threat, save the four preferratti, and replace the vial vial’s batteries. Langdon listens to the Illuminati message and deduces that the four cardinals will die at the four alters of the Path of Illumination. However, no one knows where these alters are located. Vetra demands the Swiss Guard fly Father Silvano’s diaries from Switzerland. They hope he wrote down the name of whomever he discussed the CERN experiment. Langdon demands access to the Vatican Library (something he has requested 10 times already) to see the original copy of Galileo’s banned book. Using the clue from this book, Langdon, Vetra, and Lieutenant Valenti (Victor Alfieri) of the Vatican police race to the first church, only to find the body of the first Cardinal, branded with the word, Earth (in English!). They find the direction of the church with the seond Illuminati alter, but arrive in time to see the next Cardinal die, branded with the word Air. Langdon locates the third church with the third Illuminati alter, but tries to save the third Cardinal from burning to death, while the assassin kills the Vatican policemen. He convinces the Rome police to race to the last church of the Water alter, and manages to save the last Cardinal. However, location of the last Illuminati alter remains in question.

Part One

Part Two