Holy Tom Hanks! 12 Mistakes That Bedevil “Angels & Demons”
May 18 2009, Published 11:52 a.m. ET
Angels and Demons opened on top of the box office this weekend, once again pitting Tom Hanks against the murderous forces of religious fanaticism. However, even a complex and tightly written film like this sequel to The Da Vinci Code is bound to have some plot holes, continuity errors, and lapses in logic.
That's why RadarOnline.com called on novelist Jeff Rovin -- author of the upcoming The Sinai Covenant and the best-selling Tom Clancy's Op-Center series -- to help point out a few places where the movie is hole-ier than thou.
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT! DON’T READ IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW THINGS ABOUT THE MOVIE!
1. Despite the history quoted in the film, the Illuminati existed only from 1776 - 1787 and were never assaulted or killed by the Catholic Church.
2. Cardinal Strauss states that a mere priest can't be elected Pope. In reality, a priest simply could be elevated to the rank of Bishop and then take office.
3. When the first murdered Cardinal is found underground, he is already decomposing, even though he had died within the hour.
4. When Robert Langdon and the Swiss guard are trapped in the archive without oxygen, the latter unsuccessfully smashes a trolley against the unbreakable glass. The amount of strewn paper around the trolley changes from shot to shot.
5. In that same scene, Langdon uses the gun of the unconscious Swiss guard to damage the glass. The report in that confined space should have left him deaf. Oh, and the guard should have thought of the gun first: it's what they're trained to do!
6. When Langdon saves the fourth Cardinal from drowning in the fountain, he is completely submerged in water. However, minutes later his clothes hardly look damp. His shoes don't even go 'squish-squish.'
7. When Carmerlengo McKenna parachutes onto the Vatican, the amount of blood on his nose changes from a little to a lot in between shots.
8. When McKenna is being treated in the hospital after that violent parachute experience, his face is covered with cuts yet his hair is perfect. What did he do, pop into the men's room to brush up?
9. When the group finally finds the anti-matter bomb, their cold breath is not only a pretty fake digital special effect, it is inconsistent: some of the characters have it, some don't.
10. A little girl discovers the second Cardinal dying in the middle of the crowd in front of the Vatican. As ingenious as the assassin is, there is no way he could have dropped the bleeding, gasping Cardinal on the steps of one of the most famous structures on earth without anyone noticing. Except a little girl.
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11. Although the newscasters report that the second black smoke is coming out of the Vatican, in an overhead shot the smoke isn't moving at all.
12. The branding iron is still glowing when the police enter the room, even though it's been lying there for a while. A hot iron glows for about two minutes, max.
