Fresh off its triumph-ish premiere this week in Rome, Angels & Demons last night made its first appearance for the New York press. A full review is no doubt forthcoming, but my first impressions have proven difficult to shake on the day after, thus requiring immediate digestion (and perhaps a few mild spoilers) in the latest installment of The Movieline Nine.
1. If you liked The Da Vinci Code, then you'll love this. And if you thought Code was laughably wordy, implausible and plodding, then imagine something 20 minutes shorter, confined to one city, with a sense of humor and Ewan McGregor. It's actually kind of awesome.
2. Yes, Tom Hanks appears in a Speedo, but not in the Naked Race Against Time Through the Vatican you were hoping for. Sadly, his Prof. Robert Langdon is a plain-old swimmer.
3. This is easily some of the most muscular, ambitious, accomplished technical work of Ron Howard's directing career. It reminds me of Mel Gibson. Or maybe that's just the batshit Catholic bad guy onscreen.
4. And besides that, which part of the story did the Catholic Church take such offense to? Was it the destruction of the Vatican archives? The grisly exhumation of the recently deceased Pope? The kidnapping and torture of his potential replacements? Baffling.
5. Seriously, MPAA: How did this and Code receive PG-13 ratings?
6. Dear Brian Grazer: Why couldn't David Koepp have adapted The Da Vinci Code as well? XO, Movieline
7. If you ever get lost when you desperately need to arrive somewhere in a hurry, just follow nearby swords, arrows, and other randomly directional-looking crap to your final destination.
8. Not missed: Audrey Tautou.
9. That is not a cell phone screen glowing persistently in your peripheral vision; that is the family aura of Jeffrey and Ben Lyons actually sitting together in the next row. "Holy Christ" is right.