Getting rid of his horrible haircut from Da Vinci (itself a reason to rest easy), Hanks does what is needed here: Look and sound intelligent while running around the city trying to solve the mysteries at hand. Those mysteries are a lot more interesting than they were in Da Vinci, with them being far more understandable and comprehensible for the audience watching as opposed to 90% of us not having a clue what's going on. The pace is kept at just about as high a level as you're likely to see all year, which results in even the silliest of moments feeling exciting.
Of course it's not a perfect movie — far from it. The silly and fun factor only goes so far, as if you look past that there are things to get irritated about. For one, there are many moments that are so trite and obvious as to cause eye-rolling. We see Langdon being able to swim really well, so of course a scene where that skill is going to come in handy will appear later on. Someone mentions them being able to fly a helicopter, so can you guess what rears its head later in the movie? There's even a token bi-lingual character at Langdon's side... you know, just in case something needs translating.
The whole diabolical plan to destroy the Vatican and all that jazz sets everything up for an exciting mystery-chase movie, but it's a bit disappointing what becomes of it by the end. There are the inevitable twists and turns that come along the way (some well done and genuinely surprising, others you can see coming a mile off), but the reveal as to who's behind the whole thing (at least, who's an actual member of the Illuminati... because, they're sneaky and they infiltrate organizations) is a tad confusing and mystifying. The film doesn't completely pull the curtain back, which leads to frustration on the viewer's part. The fact that the thing that's forcibly threatening the Vatican (and, ultimately, Catholicism itself) is something of pure science is interesting in and of itself. But that aspect isn't made the absolute most of and it should have been.
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
"There will undoubtedly be another controversy over Angels & Demons as there was with The Da Vinci Code, most likely over the scenes of violence relating to the Catholic church, even if they aren't the ones being portrayed committing that violence."
From what I've seen, no controversy whatsoever. The RCC is probably much like anyone else: being depicted committing malevolent acts is more offensive than being depicted as the victim of malevolent acts.
In other words, that's an enormous "even if"!
2 - JP
Good review - alleviates a couple of my fears..especially about the hair! :)