Angels and Demons

Based on Dan Brown’s first “Robert Langdon” book, Ron Howard makes an above average thriller that keeps you guessing to the very end. Unlike Howard’s The Da Vinci Code, also with Tom Hanks as main character/symbologist Langdon, this time around the pace is faster and the action seems more necessary to the story. And, I found, this film much less convoluted than The Da Vinci Code, even though it is chocked full with just as much history. Dealing with both the kidnapping of four senior Cardinals in Rome (where they have congregated after the death of a pope) and a missing container of “antimatter,” the kidnappers, calling themselves part of the Illuminati, a historical secret organization, threaten to kill a Cardinal an hour and then blow up Vatican City. Langdon is this time called in by the law enforcement of Vatican City because of his knowledge of the Illuminati and, once he gets involved, the action does not slow until the end credits. As Howard did with The Da Vinci Code, he got top names to play key supporting roles: Ewan McGregor playing the late pope’s Camerlengo, Stellan Skarsgård as the head of the Swiss Guard, the pope’s personal protection service, and the always excellent Armin Mueller-Stahl as the Dean of the College of Cardinals. No, the script is not perfect and the story itself is, of course, far fetched. But, for a solid action movie, you cannot really go wrong with this one. And, the special effects are pretty top-notch…considering that much of action takes place at the Vatican, where Howard and crew were, naturally, restricted. All in all, Angels and Demons will most definitely hold your attention!