Angels & Demons Review [3]

Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 05.20.2009

Angels & Demons cuts down the exposition and amps up the action. Does it make for a better movie?

Directed by Ron Howard
Written by David Koepp and Akiva Goldsman

Cast
Tom Hanks ... Robert Langdon
Ewan McGregor ... Camerlengo Patrick McKenna
Ayelet Zurer ... Vittoria Vetra
Stellan Skarsgard ... Commander Richter
Pierfrancesco Favino ... Inspector Olivetti
Nikolaj Lie Kaas ... Assassin
Armin Mueller-Stahl ... Cardinal Strauss
Thure Lindhardt ... Chartrand
Victor Alfieri ... Lieutenant Valenti



Critics called The Da Vinci Code a “dull and bloated movie adaptation” with plot twists that “seem silly, arbitrary, and entirely contrived – never growing organically out of the story.” I guess I am one of the few people who enjoyed that movie for what it was. The protestors were a little overboard in their complaints, but that is expected when dealing with strong religious groups. The critics found it long and boring with more exposition then action. I found it an interesting and intriguing little thriller.

Those critics who disliked the tedious pace of The Da Vinci Code should love Angels & Demons.

The first thing I thought after watching the first scene of Angels & Demons was how it didn’t feel like a Ron Howard movie. Howard is one of the more traditional of Hollywood directors, not boring but usually working strictly by the book, never taking off-the-wall chances. In the opening scene, the creation of antimatter at the CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), the camera flies around like David Fincher was in the room, whipping in and out of walls, dipping into machines, whirling and turning until the creation of antimatter is finally completed. It is at this point I realized this might be a very fun, very un-Howard like movie.

Adapted from Dan Brown’s first Robert Langdon novel, Angels & Demons reverses the order of the two stories and places this as the sequel to The Da Vinci Code. Enough is done in exposition to explain the view of the Vatican on Langdon’s character thanks to his Church breaking discoveries in the first film. The attitude of the Vatican in this film mirrors the true life attitude of the Vatican on anything Dan Brown writes and Ron Howard suffers for it. The Vatican refused access to key locations from the novel simply because it was based on the work of Brown. It seems this work of fiction hit a little too close to home for the Catholic Church.

Unlike its predecessor, Angels & Demons doesn’t worry too much about creating controversy at the expense of the Catholic Church and instead takes the greatest tool of the action movie, the ticking clock, and allows the characters to run with it. In fiction, the ticking clock is a necessary ingredient of thrillers, forcing the story to remain imminent and dire. In Angels & Demons the ticking clock can be more accurately referred to as a ticking time bomb. I will mention before I go on that Howard is still in the corner opposite the Vatican as the characters in the film representing Catholic leaders are shown to be completely ignorant to their own Church’s history.

The pope dies at the start of the movie and a group called the Illuminati takes credit for his death. They also have kidnapped the four Cardinals most likely to succeed him and sent word each of them will be killed on the hour, in methods based on the elementals - earth, wind, water and fire. Finally, one hour after the last Cardinal is killed, the Illuminati will allow the antimatter they stole at the start of the film to detonate and destroy the Vatican and part of Rome. The first murder will take place at 8:00 pm and the devastating explosion will occur at midnight. Therefore, the incidents of the movie take place over one evening.

Professor Langdon (Tom Hanks) is called in by The Vatican because one member of the Vatican Police (Pierfrancesco Favino) believes he can help decipher the symbols used by the Illuminati. In the best form of thrillers, another police commander, this one of the Vatican’s Swiss Guard (Stellan Skarsgard), doubts Langdon can be of any help. Also, a female scientist from CERN (Ayelet Zurer) is brought in to handle the antimatter when they find it, the only female in the male dominated film. Lucky for Langdon, the Pope’s closest aide and adopted son (Ewan McGregor) assists by allowing him into the revered Vatican archives to search for clues.

Ron Howard has constructed a heart thumping chase movie that might be the closest he ever comes to a Hitchcock moment. The music score by Hans Zimmer is about the best you can get for this type of religious thriller and together Howard and Zimmer craft a mood that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the two hour plus running time. There is a great deal of humor in the movie, much of it off handed comments by Langdon, and Tom Hanks does a perfect job at coming across snarky without being a full blown jerk at times. His character has come a long ways since The Da Vinci Code, never taking himself seriously and thankfully losing the mullet.

What I like best about The Da Vinci Code is it is a great mystery that slowly unfolds until the final revelation. While Angels & Demons is a ticking time bomb chase movie, it also provides a great mystery with one of the best red herrings I have seen in a while. I usually pride myself on figuring out who the bad guy is before anyone else. It is something that drives my wife crazy. However, since she read the book and I did not, she already knew the twists and turns of the movie and was always one step ahead of me. It should make her happy to know I was completely wrong about the final twist of the movie until it was upon us. I really thought I had it figured out and then realized, right before Langdon, that I had it all wrong. I still saw the final twist coming, but not until Howard was ready to deliver it.

It was explained to me by my wife as we left the theater there was a plot hole that was left out of the movie, but explained in the book, about the background of one of the major characters explaining why he felt it necessary to commit the acts he perpetrated. As someone who never read the book, it is something I didn’t miss in the movie but seemed intriguing as she explained it to me on the car ride home. The movie is long enough as is and something had to be cut, but it might be something lovers of the book might miss. Overall, the movie works just fine as summer entertainment goes and is a nice break since the hero is not a mutant with claws or a captain of a spaceship, but instead is a professor. It’s always nice to see the normal guy save the day every once and awhile.

The 411: In Angels & Demons Ron Howard fixed the problems that plagued critics of The Da Vinci Code while keeping the underlying positives of the earlier movie intact. The acting is great, from Tom Hanks lead performance to Skellen Skarsgard’s portrayal of the uptight police commander. Ewan McGregor gives his normal solid performance and a breakout star from the film might be Thure Lindhardt as the young Swiss Guard Lieutenant. The true stars of this movie are Ron Howard, who delivers the most action packed movie of his life, and Hans Zimmer, proving once again to be the go to guy for pulse pounding action scores. It is not a perfect movie, I still question the reason the Vatican finds it necessary to team with the man who caused them the most harm, but the action moves so fast you can’t dwell on any questions for long.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]