Why was Angels and Demons so innacurate?

[Flytch]

I think that all cuts that were made are pretty reasonable because the movie would have otherwise just gotten far to long, I mean, it's already ca. 2.5 hours.

The only cut that I thought was unacceptable was the one with CERNs boss (no description for spoiler reason)

That was the major one,

Spoiler

It was meant to be Kohler throughout and instead we got some random generic police official which also unbalanced the whole science versus religion theme

 

[GloatingSwine]

See and here I thought this thread would be about how Dan Brown does no research about his subjects and is hilariously ignorant about things he writes about...

 

[G1eet]

I've read the book, it was ok, the pacing was good but there seemed so many whatever moment. I wont be watching the film as I hate Tom Hanks. As a rule you shouldn't watch films of books you like. You spend your time wondering why this or that has been changed. Plus you know the ending.

unless of course they do what they did with I am Legend, and change a perfectly good ending for something much more... public friendly...

I was pissed when I watched that; nobody that had seen it before me tried to be nice and not "spoil" the ending. Plus they changed the character- white older guy who meets the shy dog like twice before it dies, into the black guy that owns a German Shepherd from when it was a puppy.

 

[Toners]

I read the book a while ago and actually quite enjoyed it. Sure, the plot makes little to no historical sense, but it's easy to get into. I haven't watched the film yet... I'll consider going to watch it if the way the cardinals die in the film accurately portrays the book... because anything else I couldn't give a toss about The way the fire one goes could be interesting to see on screen... because I'm not morbid or anything
Do they?

 

[wordsmith]

my major problem was the fifth brand. In the book, the fifth brand was:

(the bottom one), whereas is the movie it was a simple pair of crossed keys.

 

[Loki B]

I read the book a while ago and actually quite enjoyed it. Sure, the plot makes little to no historical sense, but it's easy to get into. I haven't watched the film yet... I'll consider going to watch it if the way the cardinals die in the film accurately portrays the book... because anything else I couldn't give a toss about The way the fire one goes could be interesting to see on screen... because I'm not morbid or anything
Do they?

Been years since I last read it, but if memory serves I think they died pretty much the same way as in the book, but it's not particularly graphic.

 

[Syntax Error]

See and here I thought this thread would be about how Dan Brown does no research about his subjects and is hilariously ignorant about things he writes about...

Well, I can easily suspend disbelief if early on, all notions of events ever being probable in the real world is abandoned. Though if Digital Fortress was made into film, I'd rather not see it. Mostly because what was impossible then (or really difficult) would more likely be quite possible now, cuz of Moore's Law and all that.

 

[stompy]

there is only a set amount of energy one atom can give. And it wouldnt be enough to blow up the vatican lol

It's a gram of antimatter, a lot more than one atom.

Then, only one gram of matter would be cancelled out by the anti-matter. Anti-matter only reacts with an equal amount of matter, producing the energy of the matter as per 'E=mc^2'. Sorry if I'm pointing out the obvious.

 

[Flytch]

I read the book a while ago and actually quite enjoyed it. Sure, the plot makes little to no historical sense, but it's easy to get into. I haven't watched the film yet... I'll consider going to watch it if the way the cardinals die in the film accurately portrays the book... because anything else I couldn't give a toss about The way the fire one goes could be interesting to see on screen... because I'm not morbid or anything
Do they?

The first three all die in the right way and are true to the book but the fourth

Spoiler

Doesn't actually die

 

[cleverlymadeup]

This is what happens with ALL book movies. Look at Harry Potter. Biggest screwup of a movie ever, and the only reason they vomit up more is because people love the books.

the only one they changed a LOT was the 5th one, other than that the books and movies have been the same

everything gets changed as it goes from one medium to another, it's just the nature of the beast, depends on how long the book or what not is and how long the movie is what and how much is cut

 

[dontworryaboutit]

Shitty book = Shittier Movie

That's the movie I saw.

This is what happens with ALL book movies. Look at Harry Potter. Biggest screwup of a movie ever, and the only reason they vomit up more is because people love the books.

Also you're wrong.

For proof, see Fight Club (I can't believe I just became that guy), Let The Right One In, American Psycho, Das Boot, The Green Mile, A Prayer For The Dying. The list goes on, but I will stop now.

 

[Rigs83]

there is only a set amount of energy one atom can give. And it wouldnt be enough to blow up the vatican lol

It's a gram of antimatter, a lot more than one atom.

The book is my favourite one of all time but I still liked the movie even though they had to cut it down like they do to all book to movie adaptions.

From what I understand about antimatter it would require nearly a trillion years to produce a gram of antimatter. I took this from http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/antimatter_sun_030929.html
"Laboratory particle accelerators can produce high-energy antimatter particles, too, but only in tiny quantities. Something on the order of a billionth of a gram or less is produced every year."

 

[-Orpheus-]

I haven't watched this and am not in any rush after the disappointment that was the Da Vinci Code film. I enjoyed both books but don't think they could ever have made really good films.

The interesting parts of the books, which sometimes equate to pages and pages of the characters just sat around thinking about and debating over puzzles, are never going to make interesting viewing but these stories were never about action which is certianly how the Angels and Demons trailer tries to sell the film.

 

[Trivun]

there is only a set amount of energy one atom can give. And it wouldnt be enough to blow up the vatican lol

E=mc^2 is such a useful little equation...

Take a gram of antimatter and combine it with a gram of matter. The annihilation will have the energy total of the combined masses of both the matter and antimatter. That's the equivalent of two grams. Now, 2 grams is equal to 0.002kg. Multiply that by 3.00x10^8 squared. That is, 0.002 multiplied by 9.00x10^16

That gives a combined energy output of 1.8x10^14 Joules of energy. That's plenty to blow up the Vatican.

 

[dontworryaboutit]

Also the reason that lots of the book usually get cut is because people these days are dickheads who complain about sitting through a 3 hour film.

 

[Rigs83]

there is only a set amount of energy one atom can give. And it wouldnt be enough to blow up the vatican lol

It's a gram of antimatter, a lot more than one atom.

The book is my favourite one of all time but I still liked the movie even though they had to cut it down like they do to all book to movie adaptions.

From what I understand about antimatter it would require nearly a trillion years to produce a gram of antimatter. I took this from http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/antimatter_sun_030929.html
"Laboratory particle accelerators can produce high-energy antimatter particles, too, but only in tiny quantities. Something on the order of a billionth of a gram or less is produced every year."

Also the very first plutonium atom that split in the atomic bomb that detonated over Hiroshima did not have enough energy to move a grain a of sand. Only because of the unique characteristics of plutonium, the fact that it is an incredibly dense and radioactive metal, allowed that single atom to split the ones nearest it and start a Domino Effect resulting in such a huge explosion. Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared or e+mc2.

 

[CuddlyCombine]

E=mc^2 is such a useful little equation...

Take a gram of antimatter and combine it with a gram of matter. The annihilation will have the energy total of the combined masses of both the matter and antimatter. That's the equivalent of two grams. Now, 2 grams is equal to 0.002kg. Multiply that by 3.00x10^8 squared. That is, 0.002 multiplied by 9.00x10^16

That gives a combined energy output of 1.8x10^14 Joules of energy. That's plenty to blow up the Vatican.

Damn, I love science. Note to self: start working on producing antimatter in large-scale quantities.

Anyway, aside from all the scientific accuracies, I don't find Tom Hanks to be that riveting of a detective. His knowledge of the Illuminati could use some work.

You know what would have made both book and movie better? Assassination of Dan Brown before he could start working on them. At least then someone could program a machine to write the same page over and over again, except modify the synonyms used and change up word order. Maybe Dan Brown and Stephanie Meyer could marry!

 

[Zombie Badger]

Starship Troopers.

Paul Verhoeven and his screen writers deserve nothing less than contempt for that abomination.

Oh come on, that one was very accurate to the book. The main character was named Johnny, and there was a character named 'Dizzy' Gilespi and a war with a race called bugs and...and...yeah very accurate.

To be fair, the script was almost done before they realised that the book exists, and that they might have been sued for copyright infringement. They changed a few names, but that's it.

 

[Snugglebunny]

I love the book Angels and Demons! It was just outright facinating, the character had SUCH dimension and depth, the history and the science in the story added such a great element, and the plot was genuinely compelling and thrilling!

No movie could POSSIBLY match that. Ever. Ever ever.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

For proof, see Fight Club (I can't believe I just became that guy), Let The Right One In, American Psycho, Das Boot, The Green Mile, A Prayer For The Dying. The list goes on, but I will stop now.

the only thing about American Psycho is they took out a lot but they did keep a bunch of the stuff but all in all it was pretty close to the book