Conspiracy theories, plentiful as they are in today’s world, always go up a notch when a new Pope is being named. And since novelist Dan Brown builds conspiracy theories with pretty good foundations, it’s just right for him to plow that sacred soil again.
After all, Rome makes a good backdrop, and Tom Hanks was available, so it was easy to find financing for "Angels and Demons," which opens today on multiple movie screens, and to round up an international cast with fine actors like Ewan McGregor, Armin Mueller-Stahl and Stellen Skarsgard. To add a little (very little) sex interest, director Ron Howard uses Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer, who starred in "In Therapy," long before HBO nabbed the series and moved it to the U.S.
Zurer, who portrays a physicist, does almost nothing in the film. She’s always fully dressed, looks very helpful but says very little. Basically, she follows Hanks and occasionally reminds him about something or other.
With memorable, dramatic backdrops that have filled that role for more than 2000 years, Howard has lots of visual stuff, all of which looks good. Hanks, as Prof. Robert Langdon, is like Indiana Jones without the whip and with less sex appeal.
Screenwriters David Koepp and Akiva Goldman keep the action going well without as much length as the predecessor, "The DaVinci Code," though except for Brown, the Catholic setting and Hanks/Langdon, there’s no sequel effect.
"Angels and Demons" is a satisfactory chase-and-be chased film with a pretty good story, but without any feeling of greatness.
At Multiple Locations