Not only have four cardinals been kidnapped by an assassin (NIKOLAJ LIE KAAS) with the threat that they'll be executed one per hour, but a vial containing experimental antimatter has also been stolen from a CERN particle collider and is now hidden somewhere in Vatican City. With limited battery power keeping it in stasis, it must be found before midnight when it will explode with the equivalent force of a five kiloton bomb.
Accordingly, Inspector Olivetti (PIERFRANCESCO FAVINO) with the Vatican police has sent his subordinate, Claudio Vincenzi (DAVID PASQUESI), to retrieve American professor Robert Langdon (TOM HANKS) to help out. Due to his past investigation and writings, Langdon is no favorite of the Church, but his expertise is desperately needed within the confines of this limited timeline. He quickly discerns that a note left by the assassin involves the Illuminati, a group of scientists and freethinkers who were driven into an underground radical movement by the Church centuries ago with the threat that they would one day get their revenge on religion.
Accompanied by CERN physicist Vittoria Vetra (AYELET ZURER) who's intimately knowledgeable about the missing antimatter, Langdon starts to decipher what he believes is a clue of trails, but runs into resistance from Commander Richter (STELLAN SKARSGARD) and his right-hand man, Chartrand (THURE LINDHARDT), of the Swiss Guard. They are aware of Langdon's reputation and thus wary of allowing him access to the Vatican archives he states he needs to solve their problem. From that point on, and as McKenna tries to persuade Cardinal Strauss to evacuate Vatican City, Robert and Vittoria race against time to follow the clues and hopefully save the kidnapped cardinals and prevent the antimatter device from destroying much of Rome.
Violence consists of various murders and deaths on and off-screen (by gunfire, a knife, a car bomb and several people being burned alive), and some of that has bloody results (including large branding marks on men's chests, a severed eyeball, rats gnawing on a dead man's head, and the brief view of a partially decomposed corpse), while a large explosion damages buildings and tosses people about.
Those scenes and moments of potential peril might be suspenseful and/or unsettling for some viewers. Bad attitudes are present (and some viewers might not like the film's religious content), while some behavior might be enticing for some kids to imitate, and a few characters briefly smoke.
Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.
For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, there's some of that midway through the film and then again later.
For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, there are varying amounts of camera movement (spin-around camera shots, bouncy POV running shots, etc.) at various points in the film.
All Rights Reserved,
(2009) (Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor) (PG-13)
Alcohol/
DrugsBlood/Gore
Disrespectful/
Bad AttitudeFrightening/
Tense ScenesGuns/
Weapons
*None
Heavy
Extreme
Heavy
Extreme
Imitative
BehaviorJump
ScenesMusic
(Scary/Tense)Music
(Inappropriate)Profanity
Moderate
Mild
Extreme
None
Minor
Sex/
NuditySmoking
Tense Family
ScenesTopics To
Talk AboutViolence
Moderate
Minor
Minor
Moderate
Extreme
CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.
(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).
Reviewed May 11, 2009 / Posted May 15, 2009
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