ANGELS AND DEMONS 3.0*** This is one of those fast action/tight suspense movies where you need to do the potty stop before you take your seat and buckle-in because this is one heck of a roller-coaster ride from shortly after the movie begins to right on up until the end.

Tom Hanks is back as Dr. Robert Langdon and fortunately has a better hair-do, and Director, Ron Howard, learned his lesson well from the too slow and too much of a "stick-to-the-book" movie version of the "Da Vinci Code". Then too, Ron Brown's book of the same name is way more action oriented as compared to the more cerebral "Da Vinci Code".

The story takes place within about a 12 hour time span and is centered around the Vatican but also encompasses several locations in Rome.The Pope has just died, the Cardinals have convened to elect a new pope and then all hell breaks loose...the demons of the ancient ILLUMINATI are seeking revenge for past misdeeds of the Catholic Church.

Although the Vatican officials begrudge Dr. Langdon (Hanks) for his involvement with the breaking of the Da Vinci Code, they, nonetheless, enlist his help to avert a disaster.( NOTE: Ron Howard chose to do this movie as a sequel to "Da Vinci Code" when, in fact, the book was written by Brown before the "Da Vinci Code" book). The horrible threat to the Vatican is that 4 of their most influential Cardinals, who have been kidnapped, will be murdered...one at a time..an hour at the time until midnight when a greater disaster is threatened. That's all you need to know and that is revealed in the first 10 minutes of the movie.

Although the emphasis is on the action ,you must keep the brain fully engaged to keep up with the on-rush of mind-boggling clues while knowing that all the time the clock is relentlessly ticking away toward death and destruction.
Tom Hanks does his usual Hanks-style good but not great job as does the rest of the cast none of whom were in the previous movie. But, the key to the enjoyment of the movie is the fast paced, breathless action style along with trying to decipher the who, what and where of the baffling mystery.

Clark