Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Movie time!


Well, girl went to the movies this weekend. First up was Angels & Demons.

I did go see The Davinci Code when that came out, however I have not read either of the books. Which is kind of weird if I think about it. Anyway, I feel that I was able to enjoy the first movie more because I hadn't read the book. Judging by my father's and littlest brother's reaction on this movie, I'm glad I didn't read this book either. They wouldn't shut up about the differences.

Basic premise of this movie is that the Pope has died, and before a new one gets elected there are some Illuminati terrorist acts. They kidnap the four favorites to be Pope and are going to blow up the Vatican. Luckily, Tom Hanks - Robert Langdon - is on the case!

What was cool for me about this movie is that I was just in Rome. I was hanging out at the Vatican and running around all the old churches. The driving in the movie was pretty much how it is all the time over there - everyone is in a super hurry and no one pays attention to pedestrians.

The other cool thing about this movie for me was the whole notion of science and religion being at war. It's no revelation that these two butt heads all the time, but it is nice to get a little kick in the pants to start thinking about it.

Religion in general is always a touchey subject. For me, watching movies like this causes me to feel a spilt in two different ways. On the one hand, I feel very much rooted in this word, science and reason. I see a lot of hypocrisy, hate, and general unpleasantness that stems from religion and I don't want to be connected with that. On the other hand, I have a hard time giving up the idea of God. And I see the comfort that so many people take from church and tradition. I had a hard time not feeling moved in all of the churches in Rome. I'm just not sure. Langdon is asked at one point if he believes in God and he respones with something like he isn't part of the church but then is asked again if he believes in God, not what men say about God. Which is a really good question.

My problem with this movie is that I saw where everything was going. Nothing really surprised me, and I could tell they were hoping to shock me. I did find myself hoping for the "bad" guy to get away with it - just to illustrate how things can go horribley awry when you but so much faith into set systems and so much faith in people.

I thought this was a good movie. I enjoyed it, even if it was a bit predictable.

My thoughts to my family as we left the theatre:
"All I'm saying is that if Ewan McGregor was Pope, you'd see my ass in church a lot more often."

So far, summer-blockbuster-movie-wise Star Trek is wining. By a lot.

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