Ah, the irony! Better film, lesser returns.

Rating: 8/10 (18 December 2009)

Millions of us who enjoyed the finely crafted fiction of Dan Brown'a DaVinci Code novel were sorely disappointed in the highly anticipated and inevitably successful Ron Howard movie of same. Tom Hanks didn't fit our mental image of the suave central character, Robert Langdon and like many modern action movies based on decent novels, it short-formed or omitted too many of the best loved plot details.
Ironical, Brown's less well crafted earlier novel Angels & Demons came to the screen as a far more satisfying film and fled to DVD far faster. Let's face it, worse novels frequently make better films, both because they may rely more on visuals and action than mental development and because there are fewer invidious comparisons to make. Hanks as an EARLIER Robert Langdon (several remarks in the film make the time frame of the story which was supposed to take place BEFORE the DaVinci Code ambiguous at least - and those who know both books will try to ignore these or face the disappointment of the negation of the relationship with Sophie) is fitter and more like the Langdon of the novels - he has to be in this far more active role. The less complex plot for Angels... has fewer "codes" to be missed, and the one major plot revision between page and screen actually makes more sense than Brown's original even though it allows a supporting character (the perfectly cast Ewen McGregor as the Camerlengo) to "take stage" from Langdon (it had to do with the well filmed helicopter climax).
Like The DaVinci Code and all those earlier James Bond thriller/travelogues, Angels & Demons takes us to exotic places (here in and around Rome and Vatican City) and while the set designers actually recreated a majority of them for filming, they did their job beautifully and even those of us who have been there can enjoy ravishing revisits to favorite places along with the action.
Of course there are the inevitable plot holes which the flesh and action films are heir to (in all probability no mortal man could cover the ground specified in the time allowed and the effect of the specified bomb is basically incalculable and fudged for effect in the film), but Director Howard and plotter Brown keep us too visually and mentally occupied to care.
For anyone who likes action films intelligent enough to allow thought on a higher plane than the Disney/Bruckheimer misfire, G Force, Angels & Demons is highly recommended.