Ron Howard returns to direct Tom Hanks as the Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon who, to his surprise, is summoned to the Vatican to help during a time of crisis. The Pope has just died and four cardinals, each tipped to take his place have been kidnapped and are being held hostage by an assassin representing the Illuminati, a secret society opposed to the Catholic Church. The assassin threatens to kill the cardinals and destroy the Vatican City using a recently discovered antimatter which will explode somewhere in the city on the stroke of midnight. Robert Langdon is teamed with Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer), the scientist responsible for the creation of the stolen antimatter, and a frantic race across Rome ensues with the two protagonists trying to unlock the clues that will lead them to the hidden location of the ticking time bomb.
Ron Howard & Dan Brown
Adapting popular novels to the big screen has never been an easy task, so you would be forgiven for thinking director Ron Howard would steer clear of Dan Brown’s literature following the public mauling that the cinematic version of The Da Vinci Code received. However, there are few better storytellers than Ron Howard, films such as Frost/Nixon, A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13 and two boastful Academy Awards will testify to that.
I’ve always been of the opinion that The Da Vinci Code was given a harsh ride by the critics, being the most widely read and controversial novel in recent memory the film version was always going to be a victim of the novel’s success and came along at a time when the subject matter of Brown’s books was under severe scrutiny as to its authenticity. There seemed to be blurred lines between what was fact, fiction, or ‘faction’, which put many people off. So would Angels and Demons fair better?
Does Angels and Demons Convert from Novel to Film?
The reality is that Angels and Demons just doesn’t work on the big screen. The book succeeds as it has the benefit of the author’s voice, which can explain the thoughts and actions of the characters as well as the historical elements of the story to the reader. However, the film doesn't have such a luxury and as a result everything has to be painstakingly explained through the dialogue, which at times is hurried and clunky in order to cram as much of the 'theory' as possible into every scene. In addition, anyone without a fair knowledge of Rome will find it hard to keep pace with the story leaping between the city’s historical landmarks.
The film is not helped by Ewan McGregor’s performance as the Camerlengo, Patrick McKenna, close aid to the recently deceased Pope. McGregor sports the worst attempt at an Irish accent since Sean Connery in The Untouchables and McKenna's character journey and final scenes are about as believable as a politician’s expense claim.
Hanks is comfortable in the role of Langdon but is slightly hampered by his sidekick Vittoria Vetra, who offers little to the story other than explanation as to what the antimatter consists of, therefore a smaller role would surely have been more beneficial to the narrative. At times Angels and Demons threatens to take the viewer into a roller coaster ride but the sheer implausibility of it all is the films major downfall and in the end it is nothing more than a silly adventure.
Verdict: 2/5
Cert: 12A
Cast: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellan Skarsgard
Running Time: 138 minutes
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