More Demon than Angel

A curious sound fills the theater during the parachute scene of "Angels & Demons." It's the sound of 300 people in the audience simultaneously slapping their foreheads in disbelief.

Even those who had been enjoying the movie until that point will be stunned by just how ludicrous the scene is. Others will think the film is silly anyway, and will find the scene merely fits in with the rest of the plot.

But even so, they'll find the scene unutterably absurd.

Though the book it is based on was written first and takes place first, the movie "Angels & Demons" is a sequel to "The DaVinci Code," and in many ways is similar. It tells of a bizarre and ridiculous conspiracy involving the Catholic Church, centuries of history and the main character following clues that don't need to be there.


This time, the conspiracy involves the Illuminati, of all people. Last time it was the Knights Templar. What's next, the Trilateral Commission?

With a new pope about to be elected, bad guys have kidnapped four prominent members of the College of Cardinals. At the same time, and in what would be a staggering coincidence in any other work, scientists have created the largest-ever sample of anti-matter, which is promptly stolen.

The bad guys in the Illuminati then say they will kill one cardinal per hour and then destroy the Vatican (and a good portion of Rome) by allowing the anti-matter to touch matter.

The only man who can stop them is Robert Langdon, played once again by Tom Hanks. Langdon is a specialist in symbols, and the kidnappers leave behind a symbol of the Illuminati, so Langdon is called because...um...er...well, there is no good reason why he is called. But it's a good thing he is, because only he can figure out the clues leading to where the cardinals will be killed, and ultimately to where the anti-matter is ready to go off.

And why did the Illuminati leave behind these clues? Um, well, there's really no good reason for that, either, except to prove they're the Illuminati, and that's the kind of thing the Illuminati do.

This film's Audrey Tautou is Ayelet Zurer, who plays a physicist who, through a couple of bouts of great good fortune, happens to be fluent in Latin and is versed in the finer points of medical and forensic esoterica. These unrelated skills sure come in handy, though she has little else to do in the plot.

Ron Howard directs at a blistering pace in an apparent effort to keep the audience from thinking too hard about what is happening, or why. But even the furious activity cannot hide the many flaws in logic, the way characters appear when they are most needed, the way time repeatedly seems to stand still, and especially that parachute scene.

Nothing can hide the problems with the parachute scene.