Film reviews: Angels & Demons, Fighting, Synecdoche New York

Published on Friday 15 May 2009 14:10

ANGELS & DEMONS (12A) *** In various religious texts and works of art, angels and demons are regarded as the messengers to the afterlife in either Heaven or Hell.

Ron Howard's action-packed film, adapted from the best-seller by Dan Brown, hovers somewhere between the two extremes, jettisoning the ponderous dialogue which blighted The Da Vinci Code in favour of a protracted game of cat and mouse around Rome.

The pace is certainly quicker by virtue of the lean script by Akiva Goldsman and David Koepp, which shifts the timeline of the source novel.

Thus, Angels & Demons is now a sequel rather than a prequel to The Da Vinci Code, which is referenced in a couple of lines of throwaway dialogue when characters remark on the strained relationship between Harvard professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) and the church.

The altered chronology matters little since Hanks is the sole returning member of cast as the urbane symbologist whose encyclo-paedic knowledge of secret brotherhoods proves invaluable in saving the holy city from destruction.

When a respected research scientist is found dead in his particle physics laboratory in Geneva, his chest branded with a strange symbol, Langdon is summoned to investigate.

He links the symbol to a secret society called The Illuminati, which was thought to have died out centuries ago.

In a chilling twist, the dead man's colleague - Italian scientist Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer) - reveals that a canister full of anti-matter was stolen from the laboratory, and is now primed to explode somewhere within the Vatican.

Robert and Vittoria search for clues under the watchful eye of the Camerlengo (Ewan McGregor), the acting head of state, and the worldly Cardinal Strauss (Armin Mueller-Stahl).

Adding to their woes, the preferiti - the four Cardinals most likely to be elected Pope - are all missing, kidnapped by an assassin (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) with a horrific master plan.

Commanders Richter (Stellan Skarsgard) and Olivetti (Pierfrancesco Favino) from the Swiss Guard and the gendarmerie respectively pledge their support, but Robert and Vittoria have just a few hours to avert catastrophe by following the 400-year-old Path of Illumination.

Angels & Demons is thankfully shorter than its predecessor and ultimately more enjoyable, trading in the history lesson for thrills. Unfortunately, by excising so much of the plot that underpins Brown's book, Langdon is reduced to a glorified tour guide.

His dialogue is almost entirely expository, even tutoring the Swiss Guard and the gendarmerie on the Vatican City's shady past in order to expose dark forces at work in this convoluted yarn.

Hanks has buffed up, while McGregor's Irish accent comes and goes at whim, and Zurer is almost redundant until the finale.

Production values are high throughout and the big set-pieces well orchestrated, including a hilarious and unforgettable moment in St Peter's Square that proves what goes up must come down. With a bump.

No holds barred in Fight Club-lite

FIGHTING (15) ***

DAMON SMITH

STrutting down similar avenues to David Fincher's Fight Club, albeit without that film's biting wit and directorial pizzazz, Fighting is a no-holds-barred tale of one young man's introduction to the bare-knuckle brawl scene in present day New York City.

Writer-director Dito Montiel, who made an assured debut with A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, reunites with rising star Channing Tatum, who copes magnificently with the extreme physical demands of his role.

Montiel unleashes a series of unflinchingly brutal brawls set to a thunderous soundtrack of R&B and hip-hop beats courtesy of Rick Ross, Robin Thicke, Amerie and Ghostman MC.

Competitors pile-drive one another's heads into marble floors and smash ribs to smithereens, accompanied by sickening sound effects that leave us wincing in our seats.

The Marquess of Queensberry rules hold no sway here: it's win at all costs even if that means your rival leaves the arena in a wooden casket.

Shawn MacArthur (Tatum) lives from one day to the next by selling counterfeit goods on street corners.

When a fight breaks out, scam artist Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard) spots Shawn's raw potential and offers to make the young man $5000 minus expenses for one brawl.

Shawn accepts and Harvey introduces his protege to the illegal bare-knuckle circuit: a haven for gamblers with vast sums of money to burn.

At the centre of this universe are promoter Jack Dancing (Guenveur Smith) and his right-hand man Christopher (Anthony DeSando), who organise big-money showdowns for the best athletes.

Shawn's first bout shows impressive range and endurance, and Harvey is offered bigger matches with larger purses.

As he moves ever closer to a showdown with former wrestling buddy Evan Hailey (Brian White), Shawn kindles a romance with single mother Zulay (Zulay Henao), who lives in a cramped apartment with her baby and eccentric grandmother (Altagracia Guzman).

The fighting assaults the senses at every opportunity, but never engages the mind.

Character development is sketchy, with hints of Shawn's gloomy past reflected in his dialogue: "You think I don't know I'm nothing? I get it, I'm worth nothing."

The romantic subplot with Henao's sassy waitress simmers yet never quite boils, but does provide respite from the crunching of bones.

Tatum is convincing as an unfortunate bruiser, for whom a well-timed flurry of punches to the midriff speaks louder than words.

Howard remains firmly on the sidelines, while Guzman is hysterical as the meddlesome old dear who refuses to let her granddaughter entertain male callers at all hours of the night.

Book-marked by ferocious brawls, Montiel's film neatly ties up all of the loose ends, including a climactic sleight of hand that we see coming a mile off.

A good fighter should be able to feint to keep his audience on the back foot but on this showing, Fighting certainly lets its guard down and never counters with a knockout punch.

ALSO SHOWING

SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK (15)

Writer Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind) assumes the directorial reins as well for this offbeat comedy about a beleaguered theatre director pushed to breaking point by the effort of realising his unconventional production of Death Of A Salesman. Reality quickly fragments as painter Adele Cotard (Catherine Keener) calls a time out from her marriage to director Caden (Philip Seymour Hoffman), and decides to head for Germany with their four-year-old daughter Olive (Sadie Goldstein) to give the relationship a little breathing space. Caden falls under the spell of box-office vamp Hazel (Samantha Morton) and wins a grant to stage a theatrical experience like no other. So he distils his own life on-stage, hiring Hazel as his assistant and casting actress Claire (Michelle Williams) to play Hazel. Marriage beckons and Caden recasts actress Tammy (Emily Watson) as Hazel. Layers of illusion and fantasy overlap until Caden's entire world threatens to collapse around him in a typically surreal piece of navel-gazing from Kaufman, which is very weird but not so wonderful.