Angels & Demons
Review
by Sean Lynch
Video Interview: Tom Hanks &
Ron Howard
Having
never succumbed to the "train ride home" paperback fodder that is Dan
Brown's bank balance - I've quickly come to realise there is a certain
freedom that comes with sitting through Angels & Demons fresh faced.
No pre-conceptions, no expectations (other than "I heard the book was pretty good"), no nothing.
It
makes what would likely be a genuinely frustrating two hours of life
(comparing, complaining, bitching and moaning about the book) into a
genuinely enjoyable and downright fun popcorn cinema experience.
Along with a swag of fresh faces (most notably Ewan McGregor and Stellan Skarsgård) the
team behind the global phenomenon The Da Vinci Code returns for this
highly anticipated prequel:
Tom
Hanks reprises his role as Harvard
religious expert Robert Langdon, Ron Howard is back behind the camera,
while producer Brian Grazer is assumingly keeping the hair gel business
afloat single handedly.
The
latest book-to-screen tale follows Langdon (with a nice new fancy-pants
haircut) who discovers evidence of the resurgence of an
ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati - the most powerful
underground organisation in history.
He also faces a deadly threat to
the existence of the secret organisation's most despised enemy: the
Catholic Church.
When Langdon learns that the clock is also ticking
on an unstoppable Illuminati time bomb, he jets to Rome, where he joins
forces with Vittoria Vetra (the only sexy Italian
super-scientist in the world as far as I know of) to find the Illuminati threat, solve the puzzles and save the day.
A much more streamlined, pacy and "Hollywood" actioner than The Davinci Code, Angels & Demons often threatens to verge on National Treasure territory - but is saved thanks to some genuinely well researched source material.
Brown, and Howard, have in their own way managed to recapture the exciting essence of the original Indiana Jones trilogy by mining history itself for the films clues and puzzles while infusing some genuine action and Temple of Doom type horror and violence.
With
such intelligent and detailed puzzle solving (giving a layer of
credibility to what may have otherwise been farcical), the
ridiculousness of a lot of the film is easy to look past, leaving the
audience free to sit back and enjoy the ride.
The film looks
incredibly lush, aside from the odd moments of dodgy CGI, with many of
the recreated landmarks of Italy passable for the real thing. In fact,
Howard built a replica of Vatican City on a studio backlot - so big it
could be seen from the sky.
The final fifteen minutes seem
almost null and void, with the audience well ahead the characters when
it comes time for the official "reveal and twist", and is possibly the
only weak point to an otherwise consistently gripping detective
thriller.
While not as thought provoking, controversial or emotionally impacting as DaVinci, Angels & Demons is an edge-of-your-seat yarn tailor made for the silver screen... and Ron Howard exploits it to perfection.
4
out
of 5
Angels & Demons
Australian release: 14th May,
2009
Official
Site: Angels & Demons
Cast: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellan Skarsgård
Director: Ron Howard
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