Vatican City is a tiny, walled sovereign nation tucked neatly within the city of Rome.  It covers a mere 110 acres, and half of this acreage is lavished with gardens.   The city-state is the repository of some of the most beautiful and historically significant art and architecture in the world.   Only 900 people live in Vatican City, but there are two police forces, the colorfully-clad Swiss Guard in their iconic uniforms who serve as bodyguards to the Holy See, and the Police Corps, which is responsible for public order and safety.  Vatican City has its own bank, post office, court system and diplomatic corps. But most importantly, it is home to one of the most powerful men in the world, the head of the Roman Catholic Church: the Pope. And Harvard professor Robert Langdon has five hours to save it all from oblivion. ANGELS & DEMONS is the film adaptation of Dan Brown’s second best-selling novel. Although the novel is a prequel to his phenomenal The Da Vinci Code, the film is written as a sequel. Our hero is Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), unraveling history’s tangled threads one religious symbol at a time.  He is a quiet, unassuming man with a messy office and a rather curt manner.  As a professor of symbology with an interest in puzzles and codes, Langdon is called to Vatican City by Camerlengo Fr. Patrick McKenna (Ewan McGregor) to help rescue four cardinals who were kidnapped immediately after the death of the Pope.  The Camerlengo handles the day-to-day operations of the Holy See between the Pope's death and the proclamation of the new pontiff after the conclave of Cardinals. The kidnapper has left symbols as clues, and the Camerlengo feels that Langdon may be able to solve the puzzle.

In the meantime, deep below the surface of the earth near Geneva, Switzerland, bioscientist Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer) is using the large hadron collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research to create antimatter.   Vetra hopes to study the antimatter as an alternative energy source to generate electricity, but someone — or perhaps someones — has other ideas for the powerful stuff. The antimatter is stolen, the cardinals are kidnapped, and a revenge-impelled master plan begins to unfold at a breakneck pace.

Director Ron Howard had his work cut out for him as he adapted Brown’s novel for the big screen.   ANGELS & DEMONS is primarily a book about puzzles, punctuated with action sequences.   The film treatment is action all the way.   The clever, mind-bending intellectual exercises we have come to expect from Brown are all but missing. We see sequence after sequence of car chases through the narrow streets of Rome at night, and a few white-knuckle moments of tension or suspense, but ANGELS & DEMONS really is a simple race-against-the-clock style thriller, and it seems flat.

Rome and Vatican City are luxurious backdrops for Howard’s film. The settings, both indoor and outdoor are beautiful. The Vatican would not give permission for Howard to film on location; sequences in St. Peter’s Square were filmed on a near-perfect replica set or with models. Transitions between computer-generated and real locations are seamless. The special effects are spectacular and believable.   Unfortunately, the writers who adapted the screenplay could not manage to make the plotline quite so true-to-life. There are loose ends flapping about everywhere. The story depends on so many just-in-the-nick-of-time moments that all suspense is lost.

THE DA VINCI CODE caused quite a stir throughout the worldwide Catholic community.   Archbishop Angelo Amato called for a boycott of the film.   There has been very little ruckus raised about ANGELS & DEMONS.  Its central subjects are not nearly as contentious as those in Brown’s first novel in the series, and Howard — perhaps purposefully — dampens any points that might be considered vaguely controversial.   All in all, ANGELS & DEMONS is unsatisfying and two-dimensional.   Ron Howard has committed a film-making sin.   He has underestimated the intelligence of his audience.

There are several very gruesome scenes in the film, and plenty of violence.  The actual science is fascinating; the science fiction plausible.   ANGELS & DEMONS would have benefited from more science and history and less spectacle.   If you’re a die-hard fan of Dan Brown’s book series, you’ll want to see this film while you wait for the release of his third installment, The Lost Symbol, due in bookstores September 15, 2009.   Otherwise, wait for ANGELS & DEMONS on demand, stay home and read some good travelogues and art history books about Rome.   Give this film 3 out of 5 stars, if only for the scenery.