An entertaining film with many flaws and errors

Rating: 6/10 (27 June 2016)

Based on the homonymous novel by Dan Brown, this film takes the symbologist Robert Langdon in an adventure in Rome, where he will try to save the Catholic Church, and the "Eternal City", of the threat of an antimatter bomb. Directed by Ron Howard, the film has a screenplay by Akiva Goldsman and David Koepp, and a cast headed by Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor and Ayelet Zurer.
Let's start with an important statement: I haven't read the original book yet, so I don't know how far the film is faithful to its story. All that I will write was only about the film, forgetting the book.
And I start with the skeleton of the film: its far-fetched and strange script. In fact, the whole story seems centered on a macabre plot to a certain guy can be elected pope. A conspiracy that seems hard to swallow or fully understand. It looks like that guy draws an intricate plan that, from a certain moment, depends almost entirely on luck or, at best, on good odds. And that is totally senseless. The script has several flaws and even the correlation between some artworks presented seems too forced to be credible.
The actors are good but could have had a more interesting performance. Although Tom Hanks has improved his performance as Langdon (he clearly had some minor difficulties with the role in "Da Vinci Code") and have done an excellent job, his partner, Ayelet Zurer, received a more ungrateful and undeveloped character. In fact, Vittoria Vetra always seems to be left on scene and rarely contributes decisively to the investigation, merely following Langdon. Ewan McGregor was perfectly comfortable with the role of Camerlengo, but his character ends up being the victim of the major script errors that we have mentioned. Stellan Skarsgård shone in the role of the suspicious commander of the Swiss Guard, but Pierfrancesco Favino could have done a better job if his character, Inspector Olivetti, not spend half the movie lost and without knowing how to lead the investigations. The special, visual and sound effects were excellent, especially in the final of the film. The soundtrack, by Hans Zimmer, lives up to his reputation but not brings any novelties.
Despite these errors, the film is not too bad. Good action sequences, a very healthy suspense, the beauty of the scenarios of Rome and its artworks, combined with a story that has no dead moments, help the public to swallow the film and make it quite acceptable.