ANGELS AND DEMONS

(PG-13)

Professor Tom Hanks is on the trail again. First we had The Da Vinci Code and now it's this newest of Dan Brown best sellers brought to the screen. The place is The Vatican. Hank's professor is once again called in to save the day by following clues leading to the possible vaporizing of The Vatican. The guys bent on destruction are the Illuminati, a group with a long history of conflict with the Church. A rare sealed vial of anti-matter has been stolen by the Illuminati, and they are ready to blow up the Vatican on the exact time a new Pope will be named. Of course there is also intrigue within the Vatican, with a young Camerlengo (Ewan McGregor) joining the professor's desperate quest. A "brilliant" scientist is along to help Hanks, too..played by the boring Ayelet Zurer. She's never given much to do except make stupid mistakes and look thrilled by the "brilliant" professor. Turns out there are subplots galore, all explained at breakneck speed, and involving good actors like Armin Mueller-Stahl and Stellan Skarsgard. The good news is the fun of zooming through Rome (as if that's possible) and the inside machinations and beauty of The Vatican. The bad news is messy storytelling by usually terrific director Ron Howard, keeping us distant from the plot and the characters. But it is not a rip-off by any means, and far more compelling than most of what is passing for American mainstream movies right now.