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Angels and Demons Blu-ray Disc Review

ANGELS AND DEMONS (2009, Blu-ray released November 24, 2009 – MSRP $39.95)

Angels and Demons Blu-ray DiscI shouldn’t like Angels and Demons. I’m not a fan of novelist Dan Brown, I didn’t particularly enjoy the original film, The DaVinci Code and I absolutely loathe the work of screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (remember Batman and Robin?) And yet, this new film proves to be such a breathtaking and engrossing thrill-ride, it made me forget almost all of my reservations!

Tom Hanks reprises his role as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, this time caught up in a plot that sees him tracing a secret, ancient route through Rome in an effort to save lives and uncover the mysteries of the Illuminati, a secret sect tied to the Catholic church yet devoted to science over religion. The film plays much like an episode of 24, which would account for the breathless pace and non-stop action of the film. In fact, the two have a lot in common: a race against the clock with an on-screen countdown, pseudo-scientific plot devices, terrorists, bombs, secret agents and producer Brian Grazer. Robert Langdon plays a lot less vicious and desperate than CTU agent Jack Bauer in 24 but still, tension remains intense throughout, a great relief after the plodding malaise of The DaVinci Code.

Part of the thrill of this series is the act of discovery. A deeper look into a compelling history of which we’ve only just scratched the surface. Langdon’s study of symbols leads us into a wonderful world based in fact but full of fictions. And this world allows us, with some suspension of disbelief enacted, to believe that historical figures like DaVinci and Galileo were using symbols to hide clues to greater, deeper mysteries. And the films give us the oppotunity to ride along with the Langdon character as he connects the dots, “illuminating” the path to a new truth. It’s a lot of nonsense but supremely fun. To be honest, the most distracting play on known-fact in the film for me had nothing to do with history, the church or the Illuminati. It was the “magical” bomb created by the collection of anti-matter at the CERN large hadron collider. Every single time this came up in the film I groaned and virtually rolled my eyes. You can sell me on anything having to do with history but don’t try to tell me that a real world organization like CERN is working with Star Trek science.

Despite any reservations I might have had going in and any quibbles with the film as it ran, I thought Angels and Demons was a cracking, fun thrill-ride of a mystery and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone aside from my particle physicist pals!

The Blu-ray edition of the film is absolutely stunning! Sony is batting a thousand lately, delivering some of the best looking new and catalogue releases this reviewer has ever laid eyes on! And Angels and Demons is amongst the finest. This might come as no surprise to you, as its a newer film and, by all rights, should look like a million bucks. But it’s a very dark movie, with a lot of low light and solid blacks, elements that are very difficult to encode well. This Blu-ray handles all of it with aplomb. Simply fantastic! And the audio is no slouch either! Hans Zimmer‘s wonderful score is well represented by the tight, dynamic 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track.

Angels and Demons comes to Blu-ray in a 3-Disc set that’s packed full of bonus features. I’m disappointed at the lack of commentary track from director Ron Howard but the bevy of “making-of” featurettes in HD almost make up for it. While some feel very much like slick studio EPK pieces, others, like “CERN: Pushing the Frontiers of Knowledge” and “This Is an Ambigram” prove to be very insightful and extend discussion of the topics introduced in the film. The Blu-ray edition of the film also includes some exclusive content: an extended cut of Angels and Demons which adds around 8-minutes of footage (mostly cut to save the film an R rating) and “The Path of Illumination” feature, which allows the viewer to explore the backdrop of the film in-depth and provides an interactive history lesson through the use of text and video snippets. The package is rounded out by a collection of trailers, Cinechat (talk to your pals while watching the film), MovieIQ (like IMDB on your TV screen), BD-Live, and a digital copy of the film. Also included on the digital copy disc is the “Hans Zimmer Music Studio Powered by Sequel 2” package, which will let you remix and compose pieces of music based on Zimmer’s score of Angels and Demons.

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