Last night we saw Angels and Demons, based on Dan Brown's novel. Love or hate either, what can I say about this book and The DaVinci Code that hasn't already been said?
I enjoyed the book, and the movie, for the most part. The pope dies and the conclave gathers to vote the new one in. In the meantime, an underground ancient order known as the Illuminati has resurfaced and are making their presence known through branding some of the kidnapped cardinals (the top 4 in line for the papal seat.) Gotcha. Tom Hanks playing Robert Langdon? Sure, I like Tom Hanks in just about anything. OK, Hollywood, entertain me.
The problem I had was the ending. It was a liiiiiittle far-fetched. The link between the worlds of science and religion were a bit too disjointed for my taste. The Vatican, the ancient symbology, Rome, the Illuminati...that was enough of a storyline right there. Adding the scientific elements, antimatter, blah blah blah, just confused things. I also had trouble understanding why, if the antimatter would cause the Vatican to be "destroyed by light", it actually wasn't destroyed by light at the end once the canister of antimatter was found. There was little more than a hurricane-like wind for a few minutes, a huge mushroom cloud, and that was pretty much it. Yawn. But wait! The priest just parachuted out of the helicopter! How did he not die, either from the fall itself (this was during the mushroom cloud), the supposed lethal antimatter, or from the fact that he hit nearly everything in sight (buildings, statues, you name it) on the way down?
What's the best way to create a compelling ending that ties up all of the loose ends, or at least keeps you intrigued enough to want to read the sequel?
I enjoyed the book, and the movie, for the most part. The pope dies and the conclave gathers to vote the new one in. In the meantime, an underground ancient order known as the Illuminati has resurfaced and are making their presence known through branding some of the kidnapped cardinals (the top 4 in line for the papal seat.) Gotcha. Tom Hanks playing Robert Langdon? Sure, I like Tom Hanks in just about anything. OK, Hollywood, entertain me.
The problem I had was the ending. It was a liiiiiittle far-fetched. The link between the worlds of science and religion were a bit too disjointed for my taste. The Vatican, the ancient symbology, Rome, the Illuminati...that was enough of a storyline right there. Adding the scientific elements, antimatter, blah blah blah, just confused things. I also had trouble understanding why, if the antimatter would cause the Vatican to be "destroyed by light", it actually wasn't destroyed by light at the end once the canister of antimatter was found. There was little more than a hurricane-like wind for a few minutes, a huge mushroom cloud, and that was pretty much it. Yawn. But wait! The priest just parachuted out of the helicopter! How did he not die, either from the fall itself (this was during the mushroom cloud), the supposed lethal antimatter, or from the fact that he hit nearly everything in sight (buildings, statues, you name it) on the way down?
What's the best way to create a compelling ending that ties up all of the loose ends, or at least keeps you intrigued enough to want to read the sequel?
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