Five reasons "Angels & Demons" is a better movie than "The Da Vinci Code"

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Reason #1: Better Source Material

Dan Brown is not a good writer. He is a very good storyteller, especially when all the action takes place in one day. Angels & Demons is a much better story and is better told than The Da Vinci Code.

Reason #2: A Stronger Supporting Cast

In The Da Vinci Code, Paul Bettany steals the movie as the murderous monk Silas, even though the cast features Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, Jurgen Prochnow, and Alfred Molina. The supporting players in Angels & Demons all put in very good performances, and manage to heighten intrique and interest in a film that badly needs it due to the sleepwalking Tom Hanks. The police officers played by Pierfrancesco Favino, Thure Lindhart, and David Pasquesi are excellent, as are the always reliable Stellan Skarsgard as the head of the Swiss Guard and Armin Mueller-Stahl as Cardinal Strauss. And Ewan McGregor puts in a solid performance in the critical role of the Camerlengo.

Reason #3: Less Controversy, More Story

The Da Vinci Code (book and movie) suffered from a plot centered on a convoluted conspiracy theory that was blown out of proportion by the Catholic church, many readers of the novel, Dan Brown, and Ron Howard and company. Angels & Demons is pure thriller, a race through Rome to prevent a series of murders. It is much more focused and not as dense, its rapid pace helping the reader/viewer enter into the story and enjoy it for what it is.

Reason #4: More Suspense, Less Pontificating

The totally out-of-character action of Professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) at the end of The Da Vinci Code neatly captured one of the film's major problems - a desire to convince the viewer of the suppressed truth about Mary Magdalene (or at least to play up to the many people who couldn't tell the book was a novel, sold in the fiction section). The movie and the book dragged when one character or another gave a long speech to explain the background to the Magdalene conspiracy, robbing the narrative of pace and suspense. Angels & Demons fairly flies in comparison, since any ax it has to grind is a very small one. 

Reason #5: A Genuine Look at Belief and Doubt

The more nuanced view of faith in Angels & Demons lends dimension to its characters, which makes them more interesting and gets us more involved in the story. Hanks is at his best in this movie when confronted with glimpses of (what may be or appears to be) genuine faith, fanaticism, or hypocrisy, whether in matters religious or scientific. And the movie is at its best (as in its closing moments) when it shows us the doubt at the heart of faith, where the human meets the divine and is humbled, recognizing its inherent flaws in the light of perfect love.  

Comments

Nancy Barnes said…
Excellent review for an excellent movie!
24 May 2009 at 15:03
CLB said…
Agreed! And I think that the cast in Angels and Demons was first-rate.
25 May 2009 at 09:28
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