Angels & Demons - B-

In theaters. Rated PG-13, 110 minutes. Trailer.

After a disappointing Da Vinci Code (B-), the general consensus has been that Angels & Demons is a better movie (Bride informs me that book is much better than DVC). I'll agree its better, but not much. Tom Hanks returns as Professor Robert Langdon, the Harvard symbologist that knows all of the symbols in the universe, especially Catholicism. The Vatican, faced with a threat involving symbols, reluctantly reaches out to him to help unravel an elaborate plot that threatens the church as it selects a new pope. Click below for more A&D:

A scientific group has created antimatter or "the god particle" and it is apparently easily transported in a thermos and if the battery runs out in the 'thermos' it will have the effect of a nuclear bomb. Said antimatter is stolen and used as the main threat by the Illuminati, an old group of scientists/intellectuals to defend themselves agains the Perga, which was the Catholic church's violent purge of scientists in the 17th century. Now, the group has kidnapped the 4 most likely candidates to be the new pope and says they will kill them, one per hour and then blow up the city with the antimatter at midnight. A word for the basic plot: BORING. Seriously, can't Dan Brown come up with some more interesting plot devices than this?

Anyway, Langdon heads to Rome and immediately does his schtick with the head of the Vatican security (Stellan Skarsgaard - who always seems like he is about to brag about the Fields medal) while he begs to get into the Vatican archives. His delivery of the "guys, you called me" (as seen in the trailer) is great, and he goes to the acting pope (the camerlengo), as portrayed by Ewan McGregor to get permission - which is granted. He needs to get in the archives to view some old manuscript of Galileo's in order to figure out where the 4 kidnapped cardinals will be killed and where the bomb is hidden. He teams up with his new female sidekick, who is 1/10th as 'talented' as Audrey Tautou, and starts a ridiculous tour of old Catholic churches.

All along, the cardinals charged with selecting the pope are meeting and working with McGregor to do what is best for the church amidst the turmoil. Armin Mueller Stahl is solid as the sage Cardinal leading the proceedings at odds with McGregor. AS the film wraps up, it gets much better - Langdon's final save and the way McGregor deals with the antimatter is really well done, all culminating in a too clever (but not unforeseen) twist.

This is a disjointed film - the middle 40% of the film is VERY tedious as they go around doing the same thing 3 times (chasing down a church somewhere), but the beginning and end are (at times) really good. Director Ron Howard could've cut 30 minutes and had a much better film. The second trip to the archives, in particular, was totally unnecessary and boring, despite the 'suspenseful' breathing issues. Howard dumbs the already dumb plot down with stupid reaction shots and 'duh' dialogue throughout. I thought the plot was stupid from the beginning - a quasi-nuclear bomb can be transported in a thermos? The Roman police wouldn't shut down all the churches? When it wasn't dumb, it was boring.

The good stuff - I like the 'water save', the helicopter flight at the end, the discussion of faith with Langdon, and any scene with Stahl or McGregor.