Film File - Angels and Demons

Despite the fact that 'The Da Vinci Code" made over €500m at the worldwide cinema box office, director Ron Howard admitted that this, his second stab at a Dan Brown book, needed to have a more action focus to it. Cutting back on much of the scholarly discussions that peppered the first, he largely succeeds in upping the ante of thrills and suspense this time around. With the pope having died, the roll-call of 165 global cardinals converge on Rome to begin their conclave to elect a successor. Meanwhile, Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), the Harvard symbologist, is summoned to the offices of the CERN nuclear agency in Switzerland to investigate the murder of leading physicist Leonardo Vetra - discovered with the word 'Illuminati" branded across his chest. Also missing is a container of lethal antimatter, which Langdon subsequently discovers has been buried somewhere deep within the Vatican and is timed to explode in six hours. Add to that the fact that the four favourites to become Pope have been kidnapped as part of the plot, with each scheduled to be killed in the timeframe leading up to the catastrophe, and you"ve got one of the better ticking clock scenarios to hit the cinema so far this year. Joined by the late Vetra"s daughter, Vittoria (Ayelet Zurer), herself a nuclear physicist, Langdon hares off to the Eternal City to prevent the inevitable happening. Pitted against the Illuminati - the 'most powerful underground organisation in history" and despised enemy of the Catholic Church - Langdon embarks on an action-packed hunt through sealed crypts, mysterious catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, chasing a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols providing the Vatican"s only chance of survival. Although the book was chronologically set before 'The Da Vinci Code", it has here been reversed and instead scripted as a sequel to the 2006 film. One of the higher profile casualties of the 2007 Hollywood writers" strike which brought all studio projects to a halt for almost six months, the 'Angels & Demons" project was further hampered by the Vatican"s refusal to allow filming within its inner precincts, forcing the filmmakers to build a scale replica of St Peter"s Square. But it was worth it, as the film towers over 'The Da Vinci Bore" in a helter-skelter stew of hellish history, corrupt authority and some of the most unusual views of Rome the tour guides have never previously revealed (though 'Angels & Demons" tours surely won"t be far behind). While the previous film had a strong cast in Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, Paul Bettany and Alfred Molina, this time out it"s more quality than quantity with Ewan McGregor as Camerlengo Patrick McKenna - a complex Vatican secretary, Stellan Skarsgård as Commander Richter - head of Vatican security, and Armin Mueller-Stahl as Cardinal Strauss, a holy man with an apparent unshakable belief in the power of kindness. With many more layers than 'Da Vinci", Howard directs with a more palpable gusto, leading Langdon into dead-ends with faraway light that may be an oncoming train, red herrings that transform into deadly traps at every corner, and welcome splatters of gallows humour when situations get really tense. Rome"s stunning architecture is underlined by Hans Zimmer"s sombre score, and clever use of computer-generated imagery allows the audience tread where the Vatican decreed Howard and his crew could not go. With a dense plot that could easily have gotten too academic, as happened with 'The Da Vinci Code", the director"s new instinct for action over explanation keeps the plot uncluttered and pacy right up to the slightly unbelievable ending. Dan Brown"s clever mixing of fact and fiction made his tale of Church versus science a thumping bestseller across the world - expect this cleverly adapted film to accomplish a similar feat on the big screen.