Let me begin by saying that Angels & Demons is vastly superior to The Da Vinci Code, the first film in this series. Director Ron Howard apparently took the criticism of that overlong and boring flop to heart. He trims a lot of fat to deliver a movie that is both tighter and more quickly paced than it’s predecessor. He does not trim very much, though. Angels & Demons still clocks in at nearly two and a half hours, and anyone who sees this film will realize that being better than The Da Vinci Code still leaves a lot to be desired.
Let me begin by saying that Angels & Demons is vastly superior to The Da Vinci Code, the first film in this series. Director Ron Howard apparently took the criticism of that overlong and boring flop to heart. He trims a lot of fat to deliver a movie that is both tighter and more quickly paced than it’s predecessor. He does not trim very much, though. Angels & Demons still clocks in at nearly two and a half hours, and anyone who sees this film will realize that being better than The Da Vinci Code still leaves a lot to be desired.
Once again, we find Tom Hanks as Professor Robert Langdon, brought in to help with the investigation of a mystery involving an obscure symbol. The Pope has just died and the four Cardinals favored to replace him have been kidnapped by, as Langdon realizes, the Illuminati, an age old organization of scientists and scholars who refute the teachings of Catholicism. They have kidnapped the Cardinals in order to wage a new battle in the war of science versus religion.
The Illuminati’s secret weapon in this battle is antimatter. Developed by Dr. Vittoria Vetra, played by Ayelet Zurer, in an attempt to unlock the secrets of creation, the antimatter is stolen by the Illuminati and hidden somewhere in Rome. Dr. Vetra warns Vatican security that if the antimatter does not receive proper care, it will explode at midnight with enough power to destroy the Vatican. The Illuminati’s plan is to kill one Cardinal per hour at different historical locations until the antimatter explodes. And thus begins the race against time as Langdon and Vetra must unravel clues in order to save the Cardinals and find the antimatter before it is too late. Offering them support is Ewan McGregor as the Camerlengo, who temporarily has the authority of the Pope until a replacement is chosen. Sometimes standing in the way are the Vatican security and a bunch of grumpy old Cardinals who do not want an outsider like Langdon poking around in affairs of the church.
This may all sound awfully exciting, but once all the pieces are in place, the film becomes a very typical thriller. Cars peel out from one location and squeal in to the next, always moments too late. Fortunately, Langdon’s superior mind is able to spot the clues and figure out how to proceed within time. It raises the question: How educated must Langdon be in order to walk into a massive library like the Vatican Archives, go to the exact right room, pull the exact right book, and turn to the exact right page to find the information he needs… all before an hour has passed!? When someone like Indiana Jones accomplishes a similar feat, we can enjoy it because those movies are meant to be campy and unbelievable, but when a movie takes itself as seriously as Angels & Demons, it would be nice to see our heroes have to try a little harder.
I, of course, will not spoil the ending: who is behind the plot, who lives, who dies. I do not really have to. It will likely be painfully clear very early on. Needless to say for a mystery thriller, some characters we think are good are actually bad, and some that we think are bad turn out to be good. We have become so conditioned to look for twists that filmmakers have become too heavy-handed in their misdirection. By the end of the film, certain behavior becomes impossible to explain. You will ask yourself, if this or that character was good all along, why was he or she behaving like a scheming villain for the first two hours of the movie? The answer, of course, is so that we can all gasp in surprise when everyone’s true colors are finally revealed.
Angels & Demons works better as a mindless popcorn flick than as a serious thriller. If one could just relax and not pay very close attention, they would be treated to a lot of frantic action. Cars race down streets, people run down shadowy hallways, and there is even a gunfight. The movie cannot be viewed in this way though, as an admittedly rousing score by Hans Zimmer, and Tom Hanks delivering every line like a grand revelation, will likely keep you sharply focused. Unfortunately, the reward for this extra attention is a ludicrous plot with a predictable ending that still takes much too long to finally arrive.
