After the global hit that was The Da Vinci Code it was inevitable that the world would be hungry for another fix of Dan Browns Robert Langdon, but as there was already a book written before The Da Vinci Code how could they de-age Hanks and set back the clock? Well it’s movie land, where anything is possible! So prequel Angels & Demons is magically transformed into the ‘follow-up’.

This time around the Catholic church has lost its beloved Pope and while the Cardinals are about to meet in the Sistine chapel for Conclave (where they all vote on a new Holy Father) 4 of the preferred Cardinals are kidnapped by the Churchs old enemy the Illuminati, who swore revenge centuries ago and they plan to kill the Cardinals and blow up all of Vatican City. The only man who can stop them is Superman but he is unavailable so they call on symbologist Robert Langdon to help them crack the code (yes, there’s a code again) and save their church.

This all sounds pretty far fetched, I know, and when you throw into the mix an anti-matter bomb that could blow up most of Rome let alone Vatican City, a sexy CERN scientist called Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer), suspicious priests and members of the Swiss Guard you have all the ingredients for either a bloody mess or a hokum-filled couple of hours.

Thankfully this story is much better than the first film, largely because the original book is a far more intelligent read. The scientific explanations seem more believable (especially taking into account that it was penned 10 years ago) and there is a much stronger trail of historical crumbs for Langdon to follow. What’s more, scriptwriters Keopp and Goldsman have cleverly updated the story and made it vaguely within the realms of scientific possibility, providing an opening sequence set inside the Hadron collider which shows us that anti-matter may be created in the future on earth (though they fail to explain why!).

Hanks seems much more comfortable in the role of Langdon this time too; his dodgy hair piece is now less prominent and he sports an attitude that helps carry the film along; he is not wanted by the Vatican as they are angry about the events in the last film but instead he tells them hey you invited me!

Support is good on the whole, and McGregor seems to relish the Irish accent he has to conquer for his role as the Camerlengo (the Popes secretary) and Skarsgard is on top growling form as the head of the Swiss Guard. Pretty side kick Vittoria is really there to drive the narrative along and she often repeats chunky dialogue and plot exposition for no reason other than for audience members deemed too stupid to understand, so Zurer hardly had her work cut out. The real turn comes from Pier Francesco Favino as Inspector Olivetti the head of the Vatican Police who, in his role, manages to put some reality into the film. Its a shame he is not in it for longer.

Overall Angels and Demons is a massive improvement on the first film: locations and set pieces look and feel great, the music carries you along well and, even though it is a big budget slice of hokum, it somehow manages to work as a simple, enjoyable romp.