Fast and exciting. a slight improvement over THE DA VINCI CODE.

Rating: 7/10 (30 May 2009)

My Take: While it's not as detailed as the novel, A&D maintains a fast pace and a thrilling build-up, improving upon its predecessor.
I haven't read Dan Brown's THE DA VINCI CODE before seeing Ron Howard's movie adaptation, however I did read Brown's ANGELS & DEMONS prior to Howard's big-screen take on the 2nd (but in the chronology of the novels, the 1st) Robert Langdon saga. I managed to read halfway through before deciding to go see the movie and avoid being disappointed that it wouldn't be half as good as its source. And sure enough, the movie is not as detailed and complex as the novel, already abridging half the novel into its first hour. But that, I guess, is rightfully so. While it does leave a few interesting points dangling, ANGELS & DEMONS is a first-rate thrilling piece of entertainment. Whether or not it has a rushed narrative, the fast pace still keeps the story moving and the novel's necessary bits of excitement don't disappoint on screen.
Tom Hanks is back, this time with a much nicer hairdo, as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, who is summoned by the Vatican Police when a crisis is currently being held in the Holy See during the election of a new Pope. My, have the tables turned! Even after "exposing" the greatest Catholic cover-up in THE DA VINCI CODE, the Catholic church now runs to him for help. What irony! Anyway, the threat is the Illuminati, a sacrilegious society once devoted to proving that science, not religion, makes the world go round, resurrecting after hundreds of years to exact vengeance. They have already set an explosive device within its walls and is set to explode at midnight. That little McGuffin is the Antimatter, the exact opposite of our own matter, stolen from CERN in Geneva. Instead of being used as a superior power source at it is intended to be, it's now being used as a sort of bomb that will reduce the Holy See into rubble. Secondly, the four possible candidates for being the next Pope (the Preferiti) have been kidnapped and is set to be killed within four churches in Rome. Which ones? Only Prof. Langdon knows for sure, once again configuring a series of clues that will lead them to "The Path of Illumination", the Illuminati's hideout, and the possible location of that precious antimatter. With a little help from the tenacious and inquisitive Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer of MUNICH), they accompany the Vatican Swiss Guard across the streets of Rome as Langdon's Mickey Mouse watch ticks urgently.
I can smirk at a lot of things missing from the pages to film reels, but the film gives me very little time for that. Mr. Howard rightfully keeps the pace efficient and gripping, giving us little time to rest easy as even we feel the urgency of the hour. Though usually convicted of being miscast, Hanks makes a mostly apt Langdon (not so much of an action hero, but more of a thinker). Zurer seemingly lacks the greater spunk of the novels depiction of Vittoria, but still gives the role a fine spin. Although, it is quite a waste that the intimate relationship between Langdon and Vittoria are rarely given any depth. Ewen McGregor would have been a total miscast in the role of the Camerlengo, but he makes a dignified man-with-the-robe.
With the expense of deeper character development and more detailed clarification of the events, A&D succeeds at being first-rate, fast-paced entertainment, something that Howard's previous Brown opus, THE DA VINCI CODE, sorrily missed. I liked THE DA VINCI CODE, but even I must agree that the thrills and excitement are burdened by some of its self-indulgence. ANGELS & DEMONS rightfully makes up for that.
Rating: **** out of 5.