I couldn't find a fractal with both "angels" and "demons" represented (or anything remotely demonic) so I ended up choosing Angel Wings as today's image. Why I chose it should be pretty obvious. That being said, on with the review!-
Tom Hanks teamed with Director Ron Howard for the hugely successful The Da Vinci Code. The movie was a flop with the critics but a huge commercial success so it was obvious they'd get together to the sequel Angels and Demons to the big screen. This offering has all the trappings and Catholic lore that featured so prominently in the first movie although the bulk of this movie takes place in a four-hour period. There's a lot of action (implausible as much of it may be) and a lot of detail that almost requires the viewer to be familiar with the novels by Dan Brown.
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Symbologist Robert Langdon (as played by Tom Hanks) has more adventures than Indiana Jones and more lives than a cat. Like many action heroes he seems to have some sort of invisible shield that protects him from gunfire and everything else. I've always enjoyed Hanks on screen (be it big or small) but I find him curiously unengaging in this role. Is it the fault of Hanks as an Actor, the script writers who don't quite manage to bring the character from the novel to the screen or the audience who wants to be spoon-fed everything? Honestly, I don't know: maybe it's a bit of all three. Most of the movie Hanks' character is being led by the hand through a series of set pieces until the inevitable ending where we are confronted with twist after twist after twist until we feed a bit like a shirt being wrung out after hand washing.
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Angels and Demons is likely to be confusing to those who don't know Church History and legend. (I know some but I found it a bit confusing.) I never found myself really involved or emotionally invested in the characters or what happens to them. (Worse, the "antimatter" element just seemed to be a weird "Science Fiction" element that didn't work for me.) Too much exposition and too many convenient coincidences and not enough genuine suspense. The character I found most interesting didn't get much play (and I never even figured out what his name was). I didn't hear a lot of excited chatter as I left the theater so I guess the rest of the audiences felt at least a little like I did.
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In the end, Angels and Demons isn't a "bad" movie--it's just not very good. I think there will be a big drop off in next week's box office or a lot of repeat business. Dunno why this wasn't a better movie--but it wasn't. I didn't hate it--but I didn't love it either and I could have done without seeing this movie and wasting my fifteen bucks.
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FINAL GRADE C-
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