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ANGELS AND DEMONS – A Lightweight Contender

It’s much ado about nothing at Vatican City

By Seán Martinfield
Sentinel Editor and Publisher
Photo by Lynn Imanaka

TOM HANKS (as Robert Langdon) – Angels and Demons

Producer and author Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons is mostly ho-hum, more of a predictable and un-inspiring stroll than the excited and frenzied pace of a true summer blockbuster. In the current maelstrom of Science vs Religion, demons masked as angels, and the nightmare of cataclysmic destruction by the hand of man – Angels and Demons comes up bloodless and ineffectual. The basic problem – it lacks soul. It lacks dramatic tension. Among the cast, there is not one compelling relationship. Whether Vatican City and the Catholic Church blows to kingdom come or a new age of enlightenment pushes toward the winner’s circle, director Ron Howard never gets the story nor its entaglement of ancient symbols and modern weaponry beyond lingering ambivalence.

Pierfrancesco Favino, Ayelet Zurer, Tom Hanks and David Pasquesi – Angels and Demons

ANGELS and DEMONS – Tom Hanks, Ayelet Zurer, Thure Lindhart and Ewan McGregor

At best, the performance by Tom Hanks as “Robert Langdon” – touted as the most exciting detective since “Sherlock Holmes” – is bland and often annoying. His hair stylist, Linda D. Flowers, needs to pack up her bottles of dye and straightening solution and get run out of town. Ayelet Zurer, as the token female interest and keeper of the scientific flames of anti-matter, is equally unkempt and unappetizing. No problem with celibacy for this team! Nor for the dueling duos behind the Vatican walls. Casting gurus Janert Hirshenson and Jane Jenkins have gone out of their way to hire the most stereo-typical looking actors to stand in for what is lacking in the screenplay and Mr. Howard’s floundering sense of keeping his performers on the same page.

Armin Mueller-Stahl (as Cardinal Strauss) and Ewan McGregor (as Camerlengo Patrick McKenna) – Angels and Demons

The most unifying element of all is the original soundtrack of Hans Zimmer whose previous work includes Frost/Nixon, The Dark Knight, and The DaVinci Code. Zimmer totally captures the undercurrents of mystical fears, dark subterfuge, and the tension of time running out. Renowned violinist Joshua Bell makes spectacular contributions to a score that is beautifully crafted, complex, and emotionally charged.

Angels and Demons is a feast for the eyes. The overall photography and sweeping views of Vatican City, especially the crowds gathered for the election of a new pontiff and all the pomp and circumstance within the palatial settings are worth the price of admission. But it is the drama and special effects of the dreaded anti-matter explosion – the “God Element” – that fall short and become painfully ridiculous.

One conclusion to the story is that if a loving deity was indeed observing the progression of destructive forces, something prevented the full annihilation intended by its human creator. No one really wins, no one really loses. Scientific conclusions remain intact as the Church hands Langdon an un-published treatise of Galileo, hopefully packed with enough loopholes to foster another sequel.

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