REVIEW: 'Angels' film even better than book

We've all heard it or said it at one time or another: "If you liked the movie, you're going to love the book."

While the limitations and misconceptions of literary adaptation preclude it from often being said, "Angels & Demons" is one instance in which the film immeasurably outshines its source material. This time around, if you liked the book, you're going to love the movie.

An old man with a profound secret is brutally murdered. His daughter-figure teams up with a Harvard symbologist to uncover a vast conspiracy involving the Catholic Church.

A terrifying assassin is never more than a step behind them, and the biggest saint of all just may turn out to be the vilest sinner.

Believe it or not, while every syllable fits with immaculate precision, that was not a plot synopsis of 2006's "The Da Vinci Code," but rather the new film "Angels & Demons."

Although author Dan Brown's "Angels & Demons" is considered the better novel to its more popular sequel, very few readers will argue that the stories are almost identical.

Luckily, "Angels & Demons" is superior to its cinematic predecessor in every possible way, which, in all honesty, isn't all that difficult to do.

"The Da Vinci Code" was loquacious and long-winded, a dull and static story bereft of dramatic energy and momentum. Director Ron Howard and screenwriters David Koepp and Akiva Goldsman learned from their mistakes. While the basic story line in "Angels & Demons" remains unaltered, numerous details have been changed or dropped altogether.

Nearly every modification actually strengthens the narrative, improving on Brown's original story and removing many elements that made his two works so similar.

While "The Da Vinci Code" was primarily a metaphysical exercise posing as a dramatic actioneer, "Angels & Demons" is much more of a traditional suspense thriller, full of car chases, copious amounts of gunfire and really big explosions. Favoring plot over characterization, "Angels & Demons" goes for your gut, not your head.

And all of it is scored to bombastic perfection by composer Hans Zimmer.

"Angels & Demons" still pretends to be about something, most notably the collision of religious faith and secular science.

But aside from one scene about three quarters of the way through the film, the philosophical musings are a MacGuffin onto themselves, little more than the paltry and underdeveloped motivation behind a series of ever-escalating terrorist attacks that truly drive the film.

This time around, the Catholic Church is the victim, a change that explains why the religious outcry over this film has been so muted.

The filmmakers were allegedly denied access to crucial locations in Rome, to say nothing of the Vatican itself. As a result, entire spaces, from St. Peter's basilica to St. Peter's square to the sumptuous Sistine Chapel, were digitally re-created. Although this forced a far simpler film to transform into a special effects behemoth, the digital artistry is mostly first-rate, with breathtaking attention to detail.

The proficient and fast-paced "Angels & Demons," which overstays its welcome a bit near the end, is a tighter, unequivocally more polished and overall more appealing bit of entertainment than either its predecessor or the material on which it is based.

You don't see that very often.

ANGELS & DEMONS

Cast: Tom Hanks
Director: Ron Howard
Theaters: Carmike, Chapel Hills, Cinemark, Hollywood, Tinseltown
Rated: PG-13 (for violence)
Running time: 2 hours, 19 minutes

GRADE: B+