Angels, Demons and the whole damn thing.

After this luscious jump into old Testament mythology you come out feeling strangely splattered with guts and slightly grubby. I like Tom Hanks, one of my favourite films is 'Apollo 13' but something has happened to Ron Howard in this. In a reaction to the hype of 'The Da Vinci Code' I did not see the film but I love labyrinthine plots so I was expecting a lot. I suppose there lurked the spirit of 'The Shoes of the Fisherman' in the back of my mind and it didn't help.

Rome is a big, busy city and I think it suffers from the modish quick cutting in this. You no sooner focus on one great scene when you are zoomed into some corner of it and then raced off to another location and all to a sound track that speaks too much volume. I think it reveals a lack of confidence in content when there's so much orchestra in your ears.

You do get an insiders look at the Vatican and some wonderful performances including Armin Mueller-Stahl, who must have suffered a small wince when the Goethe Institute ran a retrospective of his career under the title 'Architect of the Soul'. Perhaps not - he does have a gravitas that can be horribly absent in film and you relax every time he is on screen. Best known internationally for his performance as the Father in 'Shine', he exudes the wisdom of experience in his role as Cardinal Strauss, with the result that you are never completely sure which side he may be on.

There is a wonderful complexity of faces here with great performances from relative unknowns such as Nikolaj Kaas as the assassin. Ewan Mcgregor carries all truth and honour before him while he leads us effortlessly round the inner sanctum and we try to work out who is doing what to whom.

This is beautiful and fast...sometimes a little too fast for Tom Hank's leading lady who had a bit of trouble with those heels I thought. It is plainly not written by Morris West but if they do another one, and keep the camera from poking into too many sores and wounds, I'll go and see it.

To see an interview with Ron Howard on the making of 'Angels and Demons' click here: