Angels and Demons Review
These movies (Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code) are simply miracles.
Da Vinci was tremendously boring, ended essentially with Tom Hanks reading a monologue from a newspaper, and made over $750 million worldwide.
Huh?
I think that success either a) had to do with the controversial theological elements or b) Dan Brown’s novel had something the movie just didn’t.
The big issue with both Da Vinci and Angels and Demons, which centers around Hanks trying to stop a mysterious killer from knocking off 4 cardinals and blowing up the Vatican, is they talk too much.
Talking Onscreen
…is dull. It’s really challenging to spruce up cinematically the simple act of two people sitting down and talking.
Good dialogue scenes often come from conflict, the jarring of different personalities, flowery or rythmic language.
But in Da Vinci we got a ton of lines like, ‘Yeah, this obscure historical figure did this and this, so that means this…’
In Angels that happens again.
But Angels Improves over Da Vinci
Because even though it’s first half is pretty much the same as Da Vinci, dull history lectures with not enough conflict, the second half starts running.
Cardinals die in very tense scenes, during which Hanks mercifully is not forced to recite History Channel narration.
Spectacle occurs. It’s fast-paced. It’s visual.
In short, it’s a hell of a lot better than the first half.
But It’s Still Not A Good Movie
Because even if Angels was entirely fast-paced and entertaining, it would still have really thin characters, especially Hanks’ Robert Langdon.
Somewhere along the way someone needed to stop everything and give this guy a bigger personality. In Angels he’s sort of like a more nerdy, fanboyish, totally harmless version of Indiana Jones.
Speaking of Indiana Jones
Any of the Jones movies (even No. 2) are better than this. They have rich characters, fun dialogue, and historical trivia that feels integral to the story, not an impediment to it.
In Summation
Honestly, you’re better off seeing Star Trek again.
-Dan Benamor