Angels & Demons

THE Da Vinci Code has a love/hate reputation.

RACE Tom Hanks stars with Ayelet Zurer RACE: Tom Hanks stars with Ayelet Zurer

Audiences loved it and critics hated it. You can probably hear the knives being sharpened in anticipation of the latest Dan Brown adaptation Angels & Demons.

In fairness it proves to be a watchable, race-against-the-clock conspiracy thriller, especially once we move on from the plodding, scene-setting exposition at the beginning.

The film will not win any Oscars but then nobody is tipping Dan Brown to win the Man Booker Prize any time soon. If the book belongs to the beach and the airport then the film deserves a big bucket of popcorn on a carefree Saturday night.

Tom Hanks’s seasoned professionalism is essential to Angels & Demons. The double Oscar-winner doesn’t seem to do very much as famed Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon.

There’s a dry quip here, a brilliant deduction there but little that places any great demands on Hanks. However, we feel comfortable with him and he has a way of making even the most far-fetched mumbo jumbo sound lucid and believable. He gives Angels & Demons the kind of credibility and class you just cannot fake.

Robert Langdon is unlikely to feature on the Pope s Christmas card list Robert Langdon is unlikely to feature on the Pope's Christmas card list

After his escapades in The Da Vinci Code, Langdon is unlikely to feature on the Pope’s Christmas card list. So when he is visited by a member of the Vatican police you know a drama is about to turn into a crisis.

The Holy Father has died and cardinals from all around the world have congregated in Rome. Four of them have been kidnapped and will die horrible deaths at the hands of an ancient, secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati.

That’s just the warm-up act before the main attraction which threatens the destruction of the Vatican and most of the surrounding area. The clock is already ticking and Langdon may be the only one who can understand the signs and wonders behind the Illuminati’s dastardly plan.

The Holy Father has died and cardinals from all around the world have congregated in Rome.

Meanwhile a group of scientists have succeeded in creating a hefty amount of anti-matter or the “God particle” and somebody has made off with it which helps introduce Italian scientist Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer) into the mix. Ultimately this is a thriller unfolding in the conflict between blind faith and scientific progress.

You may be experiencing fatigue and a possible headache by this stage in the proceedings but take heart because once you’ve swallowed all of that the film becomes a more straightforward chase thriller.

It’s like a big Easter egg hunt set in some impressive Rome locations with Langdon and Vetra dodging bullets, solving clues, racing to the scene of the crime before the crime actually happens and moving ever closer to the heart of the big picture.

A thumping musical score pushes things along with the help of some agitated heavenly choruses. There are all kinds of shady characters who might be victims, red herrings or sinister baddies including tetchy Swiss Guard supremo Commander Richter (Stellan Skarsgard), inscrutable Cardinal Strauss (Armin Mueller-Stahl) and anxious Camerlengo Patrick McKenna (Ewan McGregor).

Angels & Demons is a more persuasive film than The Da Vinci Code because the plot is more focused on a 24-style framework of breathless events happening in a matter of hours.

Langdon cheats death countless times and his succession of inspired deductions makes Sherlock Holmes look like a slow coach. He never seems in real danger but then who knows what Dan Brown might have in store with new novel The Lost Symbol and the inevitable film version that will follow. You can’t argue with this level of popularity; you just have to sit back and enjoy the ride.

VERDICT: 3/5

(Cert 12A; 138 mins)

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