REELGUY'S REEL REVIEW:
"Angels & Demons" a taut, pitch-perfect thriller
Maine Connection: Tom Hanks played the compassionate prison guard in Maine native Stephen King's supernatural film adaptation of his book "The Green Mile."
Improving on the formula shaped in "The Da Vinci Code," director Ron Howard's conversion of the other Robert Langdon novel, "Angels & Demons," is a splendid success. Tom Hanks reprises his role as the Harvard symbologist Langdon in this taut, pitch-perfect thriller. Howard manages to build tension throughout the story, sending Langdon hunting for clues disguised as religious artifacts. More comfortable in the Langdon role during this "go around," Hanks' race against time to save the Catholic Church is exhilarating and enthralling entertainment.
"Angels & Demons" is treated as a sequel to the first movie "The Da Vinci Code," although in the Dan Brown books "Angels" actually takes place first. Nevertheless, each movie can be seen and enjoyed separately from the other. With the death of a progressive and much-beloved pope, the Catholic Church is in search of a new leader. Conclave is the tradition of cardinals choosing a new leader by popular secret ballot. An ancient enemy of the church, the Illuminati, resurfaces during this time of uncertainty and kidnaps the "Preferati" (four cardinals favored for the papacy). Professor Langdon is brought into the investigation by Vatican police, hoping his knowledge of the Illuminati order and religious symbols will lead to the kidnappers.
Even more disconcerting, an unstable quantity of antimatter created in a lab in Switzerland was stolen and planted somewhere inside of Vatican City by the Illuminati. Professor Langdon; Vittoria Vetra, (Ayelet Zurer; "Vantage Point") a physicist from the antimatter project; the former Pope's Camerlengo, Patrick McKenna (Ewan McGregor; "Deception"); and three police forces must frantically search for the explosive before it destroys Vatican City.
Channeling the macabre success of "Seven," the staged murders by the villain are grisly but fleeting; an ultimately necessary sin to tell the story. Each murder victim is found at a different church around Rome. Langdon and company must use the clues left behind by the ancient order of Illuminati to find the next victim, hopefully before the deed is done. The chase through the narrow cobblestone streets of Rome and its historic sites gives the movie moments of awe-inspiring beauty, in stark contrast to the brutality of the slayings. In "Angels & Demons" the viewer is capable of following Langdon’s logical clue progression; as translated clues lead Langdon to the next church. "The Da Vinci Code's" flaw, keeping the audience two steps behind Langdon's leaps in logic, is thereby mended in the sequel.
Hanks appears less stiff in the role of Professor Langdon, providing the movie with unexpected moments of dry, tension-dissipating humor. McGregor is the perfect choice as a young, idealistic priest with practical sensibilities. His presence and soft-spoken performance improves and calms an otherwise constantly intense movie. Vittoria is appropriately serious and scholarly, providing a natural partner to the similarly bookish Langdon. The in-fighting between the Swiss Guard, Vatican police, and Roman authorities gives the heroes another barrier to overcome in completing their goal. Several well-placed character actors perform important roles in telling a complicated but comprehensible story. The climactic finale, which seemed a cinematic challenge for the best of directors, is handled with appropriate solemnity and believability by Howard.
The only worthwhile complaint is a lack of emotional heft to the film, which is more a fault intrinsic to the story than to the film. "Angels & Demons" is more a cerebral thriller, with sufficient moments of danger and mayhem to keep a viewer’s interest. I recommend the film as a reality-based alternative for older audiences looking to share in the summer's blockbuster offerings.
Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence, disturbing images and thematic material.
