The Bottom Line

Angels & Demons

Directed by: Ron Howard
Starring: Tom Hanks, Ayelet Zurer, Ewan McGregor, Stellan Skarsgard, Armin Mueller-Stahl
Rated: PG-13 for sequences of violence, disturbing images, and thematic material.
Parental Notes: The violence in this film makes it unsuitable for most youngsters. There's some fairly antiseptic gunplay, but the film also includes people being burned alive and old men branded across the chest.

"Angels & Demons" falls prey to the same flaw its predecessor, "The Da Vinci Code," had: it takes itself entirely too seriously. For a popcorn thriller whose plot revolves around an attempt by the Illuminati to destroy the Vatican using a bomb made of antimatter, it has far too little camp and far too much serious business. If that doesn't bother you and you enjoyed "The Da Vinci Code," you'll likely enjoy "Angels & Demons." But if you, like me, prefer stupid films to be aware that they're stupid, steer clear.

The Pope has died, and the college of cardinals is about to enter conclave to elect his replacement. Professor Richard Langdon (Tom Hanks) is called in by the Vatican Police to help them solve a strange kidnapping: it appears that the Illuminati have kidnapped four cardinals (the frontrunners in the election) and are planning to kill them publicly, one per hour, before setting off an explosion likely to destroy the entire Vatican City as well as part of Rome. Langdon's prowess at solving mysteries and his knowledge of Illuminati history both make him an excellent assistant to the investigating forces at the Vatican. The planned executions of the cardinals involve an ancient trail of churches through the city, and there is much interpretation of symbolism and poetry and whatnot along the way, and the tight schedule of the cardinals' executions provides a time crunch for added suspense.

Langdon is joined in his quest to rescue the cardinals by the beautiful Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer), a scientist whose work on the Large Hadron Collider is what created the antimatter stolen to be used in the bomb. There's also the late Pope's right hand man, Father Patrick McKenna (Ewan McGregor), who embraces Langdon's investigation and seems to walk the line between the modern world and the tradition of the Church, and Commander Richter (Stellan Skarsgard), head of the Swiss Guard and no fan of Langdon's. Add the elderly Cardinal Strauss (Armin Mueller-Stahl) to the mix and you have a nice collection of secondary characters to act as friends and foes.

As usual, Dan Brown's story blends historical fact with ridiculous conspiracy theories to create a series of puzzles for Langdon solve. The problem is, Langdon's solutions are generally either complete leaps of faith, stretching the thinnest of justifications past the breaking point, or so painfully obvious that one wonders why, exactly, we're supposed to respect his intelligence when he didn't figure them out immediately. It doesn't help that he occasionally gets things actively wrong (a statue of a dove bearing an olive branch doesn't count as a statue of an angel, no matter how authoritatively Langdon says it does) but the story rolls right along as though he were correct. This is a film in which facts are bent in service to the story, and whose characters are exactly as smart as the plot requires them to be. Good thing, too, or they'd have figured out as quickly as the audience did who the actual bad guys are, and then the film would be about twenty minutes long.

If you like pretty settings and don't mind a plot more predictable (if less amusing) than a prime-time sitcom, "Angels & Demons" is probably for you. But if you enjoy actually engaging your brain during a thriller and prefer films that are a little more aware of their copious shortcomings, stay away.

Star Trek

Directed by: J. J. Abrams
Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Eric Bana
Rated: PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence, and brief sexual content.
Parental Notes: This is the first Star Trek film to be rated PG-13, and it's a deserved rating. Parts of this film will likely be too intense for sensitive youngsters, but the violence isn't particularly graphic.

Reboots and prequels are rather popular these days, and "Star Trek" manages to be both. It's set before not only the other movies but the original series as well, and manages to reboot the franchise while it's at it. Director J. J. Abrams (who brought us "Felicity" and "Lost" on TV) wraps everything up with a nice neat bow and provides an opening for plenty more films featuring the new cast. That he somehow managed to make a ripping great space adventure yarn and not entirely destroy the original series characters is something of a miracle.

I should preface the rest of my review by saying that I went into the theater fully expecting to loathe "Star Trek." I was raised on the original series and Spock was my favorite character -- and from the trailers, it looked like Spock had been utterly ruined. Plus, what the heck is Chekov doing in a prequel to the old series when he didn't show up til season two?

Chekov's presence (and other continuity tweaking) is conveniently explained with time travel. The film opens with a highly advanced Romulan ship appearing out of a singularity and destroying the USS Kelvin as the crew and passengers (including James T. Kirk's mother, who is in the process of giving birth to the future captain) flee in escape pods. I won't spoil the enjoyable process of finding out what exactly the Romulan ship is up to, but suffice it to say that it's nothing good.

The destruction of the USS Kelvin is the first deviation from the timeline established by the previous "Star Trek" productions, and causes lots of small ripples which wind up, twenty-five years later, giving us a USS Enterprise commanded by Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) with Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto) as first officer and a quasi-disgraced James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) being snuck on board by his friend Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban).

The film has an epic feel to it, and is too packed with characters to do them all justice in a brief review. The performances are spot-on, respecting the original cast without slavishly trying to imitate them. Pine even managed to make Kirk likeable to this long-time Kirk hater. As for Spock, whoever edited the trailer that so dismayed me was taking things out of context. Quinto's performance is excellent, and is an homage to Leonard Nimoy's iconic portrayal rather than an impression of it.

There's plenty of humor, both in the banter and quipping of the script and in numerous little nods to the original series. Add to that adventure, fistfights, shootouts, aliens, and a nonstop build toward a thrilling climax, and you have a recipe for a grand time at the movies. It's not at all necessary to be a Star Trek fan to enjoy the new film, but if you are already a fan, you'll probably still like it -- provided you can jump on board with the rebooted timeline, which differs from the original one.

Abrams has effectively positioned things for a whole new series of films -- as the USS Enterprise sails off into the stars and the credits start to roll, things are arranged more or less as we would expect them to be, but we know this is an alternate timeline, so new things will happen. I'm looking forward to seeing what he'll do with them.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Directed by: Gavin Hood
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Lynn Collins, Ryan Reynolds
Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, and some partial nudity.
Parental Notes: This is a fairly average PG-13. The violence is mostly cartoonish rather than graphically bloody.

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" is the first in what seems likely to be a series of prequels to the successful X-Men franchise of films. This one, as its title suggests, explores the origins of the wildly popular character Wolverine. The film traces his history from his discovery of his abilities as a child through the events which lead to the metal plating being applied to his bones to the final confrontation which leads to his amnesiac state at the beginning of the first X-Men film. The film doesn't quite gel into the action-packed awesomeness of the first X-Men film, and is probably best-suited for fans of the franchise and of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) in particular.

The opening sequence and credits give us a high-level view of Wolverine's past. Born James Logan in the 1800s, he and his half brother Viktor (Liev Schreiber) both possess healing abilities and unusual claws -- though Viktor's emerge from his nail beds. They are essentially immortal, and fight in war after war, becoming increasingly skilled soldiers. Viktor, however, is also becoming increasingly sadistic and brutal. The two wind up recruited into an all-mutant squad of soldiers under the command of William Stryker (Danny Houston) -- but Stryker will do anything to achieve his objectives, including massacring civilians. Logan gets fed up and walks away, but of course you can never entirely walk away from that kind of thing.

Years later, Logan is working as a lumberjack in the Canadian Rockies and living with his beautiful girlfriend Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins). Anyone whose seen a handful of Hollywood films knows that sort of idyllic life can't last, and it doesn't: Viktor, who has gone rogue since Logan left the squad, shows up and kills Kayla. Logan wants revenge, but Viktor is stronger than he is -- so he makes a deal with Stryker: Logan will submit to an experimental procedure to plate his skeleton with adamantium, and in return, Stryker will stay out of his way when he goes after Viktor.

Jackman has been playing Wolverine long enough now that he inhabits the character effortlessly, but his character, as with the rest of the characters in the film, doesn't really require much stretching of the acting muscles. The actors' job is to go through the paces of the action sequences and not be too wooden the rest of the time. Nobody here has much depth, nor is much needed: folks don't go to see an X-Men film looking for great character development or moving studies of the human condition.

We go to see X-Men films for the action, the attractive actors, and the super-powered mutants. All of those are present in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," though perhaps the action gets a bit shorted. There are still some awesome fight sequences, though, including a couple featuring the character Wade "Deadpool" Wilson (Ryan Reynolds). The film occasionally gives the impression of too much stuff packed into too small a container -- there are loads of mutants briefly and then tossed away (poor Gambit is one of these; he appears for about half a fight scene, and mostly serves as a plot device), but the other films in the franchise have had similar issues, so that's nothing new.

Still, if you're a fan of the franchise or of Wolverine in particular, this is a film worth seeing on the big screen. Sure, sometimes the CGI is a little cheap and the story is a bit cheesy, but it offers more screen time for Wolverine and more mutant action. If that's what you're looking for, this should hit the spot.