What a Let Down

Rating: 4/10 (19 May 2009)

In today's world, we love adventure movies-- especially if they have to do with secret societies, hidden treasures, or myths that deep down, we all want to uncover. A slough of movies have come out recently to please this facet of the public's wants: Indiana Jones, National Treasure, and the duo of the DaVinci Code and Angels & Demons.
The craze of the DaVinci Code was well-deserved. The film had everything that adventure-seekers and movie-lovers alike enjoy. The plot was intriguing, involving, deep, well-researched, and, overall, very good. The acting was decent, more than decent for Sir Ian McKellen, but the peak was that most magnificent ending, backed by the beautiful score from Hans Zimmer.
Now, Tom Hanks is back-- with new haircut. He has been asked to help the Vatican save the lives of four of their cardinals, as well as the Vatican City as some antimatter (shockingly enough) from the Hadron Collider. The plot is simply odd, not so deep or involving, as it's mainly all centering around the geography of Vatican City, and that's not very interesting. The violence is not the good kind (meaning the kind that makes a movie great) but it makes the film less enjoyable and thoroughly cringe-worthy. Plus, there is no amazing moment of "Ohhhh..." for the audience, making it not nearly the smashing, amazing success that the DaVinci Code was.
Though Angels & Demons was the prequel to the DaVinci Code, it was not made first. Maybe because everyone knew that the only reason anyone would go see Angels & Demons is because the DaVinci Code makes it seem like it would be great.
All in all, not a good call from Ron Howard. Even by Paris Hilton standards, it falls short of gigantic expectations.