Angels & Demons

The Pope is dead. The preferiti — the four Cardinals most likely to succeed his holiness — have been kidnapped. And a bomb is about to destroy Vatican City. Who you gonna call? Robert Langdon, of course, the Harvard

Tom Hanks

symbolist who tore up thousands of years of Christian doctrine in "The Da Vinci Code" (2006) and has never once been to confession.

The threat to the Vatican in "Angels & Demons" is posed by the Illuminati, a group of "enlightened" scientists and thinkers who were forced underground by the Catholic Church 400 years ago. The idea is to use a substance stolen from scientist Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer) to blow up the Vatican, but only after the four Cardinals are murdered in places created by members of the Illuminati (Galileo, Bernini, etc.). Get it? Science will be used to destroy religion, in effect giving Catholicism the comeuppance the Illuminati believes it deserves. Take that, creationists.

The film is positioned as a sequel to "The Da Vinci Code," even though author Dan Brown published "Angels" three years before the "Da Vinci" novel became a worldwide phenomenon. Regardless, Ron Howard directs this film with more urgency than he did "Da Vinci," and the quicker pacing goes a long way toward energizing the story. It's a treat to watch Langdon (Tom Hanks, sans awful hair cut) decipher these age-old clues that, if it were 400 years earlier, would make him a member

of the Illuminati.

But the movie does have flaws. We

in "Angels & Demons."

don't need the scene in which Langdon nearly dies from a lack of oxygen, and it's frustrating that nobody who's asked for Langdon's help seems to actually want it. The head of the Swiss Guard (Stellan Skarsgard), which is charged with the protection of the papacy, ignores Langdon. And the one person who's willing to listen, the youthful acting Pope (Ewan McGregor), can't get anyone to listen to him, including the head of the Cardinals (Armin Mueller-Stahl). To an extent this bureaucratic nonsense is understandable given that we know some high-level officials have betrayed their creeds, but it gets frustrating to see Langdon always a step slow in catching the assassin (Nikolaj Lie Kaas).

Tom Hanks in "Angels & Demons." Is the movie anti-Catholic? I don't think so. You're rooting for Langdon throughout, and he is trying to save Vatican City. That said, the movie does clearly state that the Catholic Church murdered people in order to preserve its way of life (insert any connection to modern politics and religion as you see fit), which isn't exactly nice. But "Angels & Demons" isn't about being nice — it's about suspense, solid acting and a compelling story, and it accomplishes its goals nicely.

Dan Hudak is the chairman of the Florida Film Critics Circle and a nationally syndicated film critic. You can e-mail him at dan@hudakonhollywood. com and read more of his work at www. hudakonhollywood.com.

Did you know?

>>The Swiss Guard has protected the Pope since 1506 (think of it as the Vatican's Secret Service). To enter the Swiss Guard one must be a single Catholic male between the age of 19 and 30, at least 5-feet-8-inches tall, a graduate of basic training in the Swiss military, and a citizen of Switzerland.