Rating: PG-13 | Runtime: 138 minutes
Release Date: May 15th, 2009 (USA)
Studio: Sony Pictures Releasing / Columbia Pictures
Director(s): Ron Howard
Writer(s): David Koepp and Akiva Goldsman / Dan Brown (novel)

Faith is a gift I’ve yet to receive.

Author Dan Brown has a writing style that suits mainstream America. The guy is a consummate fixture on bestseller lists and frankly he deserves it. I read The Da Vinci Code and it was a page-turner. I remember not being able to put it down as new discoveries were made and the intricate plot unraveled. However, when the movie version came out, I was very underwhelmed by what Ron Howard did. He took all the excitement out of the novel by literally putting the page on the screen.

Unfortunately, what works internally from reading doesn’t usually also work visually. As a result, I decided to go into the prequel novel adaptation—made into the film’s sequel—Angels & Demons without prior knowledge to the story at-hand. It definitely gave me a more pleasurable experience that allowed me to enjoy it for what it was: a summer blockbuster thriller and nothing more.

This is simple storytelling at its core. You have a man at the top of his field, Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), who can literally walk into a room and discern every visible symbol’s historical meaning within seconds. As a result, any small detail needed to progress the plot is made feasible in the context that Langdon knows everything about anything. His never-ceasing-to-amaze mind allows the impossible to be done. That said, I felt preached to and talked down to a lot less here than with Da Vinci Code.

Howard decides to forego exposition (if you saw the first film you know Langdon’s backstory, so no need to rehash again) and delve right into the action. Within ten minutes the symbologist is in the Vatican, up to speed, and seemingly more invested in the case than the Papal police. The incident concerns the kidnapping—with threat of murder—of the top four candidates for Pope, a position vacated by the dying Vatican leader fourteen days prior. Oh, and there’s a little something about some stolen antimatter that risks destroying the Vatican and part of Rome with a cataclysmic explosion.

So, our favorite atheist Langdon must put his mind to work to uncover an ancient rumored path created by Galileo and Bernini that reveals the way to the Illuminati’s meeting place—his guess for where the bomb is. There are four churches that stand-in for the elements of earth, wind, fire, and water across the city and guarded by angels.

Langdon must team up with one of the scientists responsible for creating the antimatter (Ayelet Zurer’s Vittoria), the Italian police (led by an enjoyable Pierfrancesco Favino as Inspector Olivetti), the Papal police Commander (Stellan Skarsgård’s Richter always making us wonder which side he is on), and the Camerlengo (a nice turn from Ewan McGregor as the Pope’s right-hand man and holder of Papal power until the replacement is voted in). The journey leads them through mysteries, gruesome deaths, and brandings to beautiful churches with glorious artwork and the Vatican Archives where a Mercedes Benz is housed.

The outcome is pretty obvious—especially when Howard and the filmmakers make so many people out to seem like the bad guys and cause us to know the real villain is probably someone you wouldn’t guess. Angels & Demons is the kind of film for which you check your brain at the door and go along for the ride in the hope of potentially learning something along the way. Langdon’s wealth of knowledge not only makes him the one man on Earth that can decipher the mystery, but it also allows the audience to absorb the religious and cultural history behind it.

Things happen at breakneck speed so the viewer can never take a breath and think about character motivations. Does Langdon constantly speaking his thoughts out loud like a pompous know-it-all get old? You betcha. But how else would we know how he solves everything? This is why the series’ literary adaptations haven’t been great. Cinema utilizes a different sense, so you can’t expect a direct translation to work. One must reinterpret with that shift in mind. Filmmakers must make the story their own and not just copy, shoot, and print. Howard isn’t a bad director. It’s just a shame he mostly takes “for hire” jobs.

The film is not without its merits, though. The special effects are nice (especially the antimatter climax) and the blood and gore are adequate to get the audience going (there’s nothing like an eyeball sitting on the floor to get you into a story). Hanks is also good as Langdon, working his brain and acting smart. It’s truly perfect casting. I just wonder whether it’s a character with any redeeming qualities beyond knowing everything to save the world from crazy, random conspiracies.

My favorites were McGregor and Armin Mueller-Stahl as Cardinal Strauss. The latter has a very intriguing role, tricking us into believing he has nefarious interest in stealing the Papacy one moment before appearing to be the most righteous and pious of the bunch the next. He’s a wild card that keeps you guessing to become the one enigma I couldn’t quite pin down. As for McGregor: despite figuring out his motivations early, he plays the part so well. His monologue about church and science being at war is brilliant and his twists and turns are always executed skillfully.

In the end, Angels & Demons is your standard summer film: mindless entertainment with a pseudo-intellectual bent that seeks to titillate more than stimulate. There’s also some humor with likable characters on the trail to prevent an event that would all but wipe out the entire Catholic Church in one fell swoop. While few surprises won’t make you shake your head at their contrived absurdity, Howard and company do give us each puzzle’s solution through deductive reasoning and research.

Perhaps the Robert Langdon saga will teach kids that it’s okay to be book smart and devote your life to academia because maybe you will write a book that the government flags about a topic that’s exactly like a current unsolved case. Then you can work side by side with a beautiful woman and show that you can kick ass and play the hero despite your pale complexion and aversion towards the outdoors. We nerds can all dream, right?

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Tom Hanks and Ayelet Zurer star in Columbia Pictures’ suspense thriller ANGELS & DEMONS. Photo By: Zade Rosenthal.