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At times the optimism of Hollywood is very admirable. When you create something as horrible (and that is not a strong enough word) as 2006’s The Da Vinci Code, climb under a rock due to the laughter and ridicule, and then turn around three years later and release the sequel, well, that has to take some gumption for sure. Either that or you pray that today’s “in the moment audience” will have forgotten how utterly ridiculous the past failure was. Attention Hollywood: I did not forget. That dismal Da Vinci is etched into my mind as 2 and a half hours of my life I will never get back. Bitter? A little. So it only makes sense that I walked into Angles and Demons with a little reserve and a whole lot of animosity. This was director Ron Howards chance to make up for the last 8 or so years of mediocrity and do something worthy of his name. Time for Opie to step it up.

Angles and Demons is based on the novel by Dan Brown and has a returning Tom Hanks as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon. He is called upon by the Vatican to help investigate the kidnapping of four Roman Cardinals during the voting in of a new pope. What he finds is more a terrorist threat. A bomb has been planted somewhere in Vatican City and it is up to Langdon, a female scientist Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer ) and the prior popes right hand man Camerlengo Patrick McKenna (Ewan McGregor) to figure out ancient clues to find the bomb and save the Cardinals. It is a race against time and old church tradition. The terrorist plot points toward an ancient sect known as The Illuminati, a group who has a century’s old vendetta against the Catholic Church. Langdon must decipher their history in order to find the clues necessary to save the day. To the pope mobile!!

This film succeeds by doing everything that its predecessor did not. It combines ancient church culture, a thrilling race against time, and a treasure hunt of Roman artistry. It does not try to be controversial in its story line but allows history to be engaging. Think of it as sort of a National Treasure within the Catholic Church. Though a firm believer in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, I am not a religious man at all but I can respect the history and the reverence of religion. Angels and Demons used that religious realm as a foundation to build on, not to dismantle it as it did earlier with the lineage of Jesus the Christ. It is a mystery that just happens to use the Vatican instead of the White House as its backdrop. And it works wonderfully.

There is so much beautiful history in Rome and this film uses it to its advantage. Wide shots of the city combined with journeys down its narrow streets puts you right into the culture. The writing is also superior. Gone is the ridiculous dialogue and attempt at intrigue that the Da Vinci flop tried to pass off. True there are lines delivered here that make you sort of giggle and roll your eyes. But there is a little lenience in this type of film. Strong acting and deeper characters make up for it in the long run. The addition of Ewan McGregor to the cast fits nicely. He has this soft sincerity about him that worked great for the priest hood. His performance is passionate as he goes up against old world theology in an attempt to get to the truth. Hanks even redeems himself from the past Langdon role. We find this Robert more with it and relatable. 

It seems that Howard learned from the past mistakes and used it to create a much better film. Where as The Da Vince code should be expunged from the annals of movie history, Angels and Demons is a decent successor to the theatrical throne. Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence, disturbing images and thematic material it is an honest rating. There are plenty of gunfire and assassin style killings. This plus the violent deaths of some of the Priesthood make for imagery that may not be suitable for pre teens. Everyone else will discover a tightly wound thriller that though a little long at 2 hours and 20 minutes is still a mystery worth checking out. I give it a strong 3.75 out of 5 pope hats. It redeemed itself for sure. 

Matt Mungle
(5/11/09)

(3.75 out of 5)

Review copyright 2009 Mungleshow Productions. Used by Permission.

Oh, the powers that be in cinema-land. Dan Brown’s novel, The Da Vinci Code was the second of his starring the symbol sleuth Robert Langdon (played by Tom Hanks.) We know that Da Vinci Code was a best seller, abet as confusing as the film, and ended up on many film critics “Worst Film” list. Here comes Brown’s first novel with the Langdon character, Angels & Demons that gives a hint of the supernatural but actually deals with the foibles of man. As it stands, Angels will have you suspend belief, but holds the plot together better than Da Vinci. Angels should have been cinematically done first.
 
This particular story has Langdon summoned to the Vatican when it is discovered that he is an expert on a secret old society called the Illuminati. Soon, four cardinals are kidnapped and begin to die horrible deaths, an assassin (Nicolay Lie Kaas) is lurking around, the Pope dies and the cardinals gather to elect a new pope, the former pope’s assistant (Ewan McGregor) called a Camerlengo assumes command in the absence of a new pope, and a physicist, Vittoria (Ayelet Zurer) is in search of a piece of explosive anti-matter stolen from her lab. Anti-matter in the Vatican, you say? Is the Illuminati responsible? Nothing is impossible in cinema-land, not even Langdon being locked in an air-tight glass vault.
 
The acting in Angels & Demons consists of Tom Hanks looking puzzled and then saying “Go the way this statue is pointing,” and away everyone goes. Also, he wears a Mickey Mouse watch and I found this distracting rather than humanizing. Ayelet Zurer looks about as much a physicist as Denise Richards. It takes Ewan McGregor as the Camerlengo and Armin Mueller-Stahl to bring some sort of gravity to the situation and that is because of their carefully patterned speech. Apart from special effects, you can understand the two actors. Parts of the sets were built to look like Vatican City and much was filmed in Rome, and this is lush. Even the anti-matter has a twinkle of its own. You enter the intricacies of voting for a new pope and intrigue behind locked doors, both of the church and of police. This assassin is clueless, though, when he deviates from killing intended victims. No plot, no thought.
 
All in all, Angels & Demons is overly long and could have been cut by 30 minutes. We didn’t need so many chase scenes between churches and Stellan Skarsgard and Hanks arguing about who is right and who is wrong. The beauty of church buildings catches your eye, the machination that goes on behind closed doors and what people do in the name of religion.
 
Copyright 2009 Marie Asner