MOVIE REVIEW

For all its breathless chases, 'The Da Vinci Code' sequel is low on energy.

By BY ANDY KLEIN

Exactly three years after "The Da Vinci Code," star Tom Hanks, director Ron Howard and the rest of the behind-the-camera talent from that smash have reunited for "Angels & Demons" -- a sequel updated from Dan Brown's novel about Robert Langdon (Hanks), Harvard's most improbably dashing symbologist. Call it "Massachusetts Langdon and the Church of Doom."

In most regards, the new film follows the template of its predecessor almost -- dare I say it? -- religiously. Opening catastrophe: Instead of the murder of an old curator in Paris, we get the murder of an old physicist in Zurich, along with the theft of the world's first portable stash of antimatter . . . only moments after it has been created. In no time flat, they manage to kidnap four cardinals, whom they threaten to murder -- one per hour -- culminating in the detonation of the antimatter, which will demolish the Vatican and much of Rome.

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Oh, by the way, as all this is going on, the College of Cardinals is trying to choose a new pope.

The bad guys have organized their crime spree to match a series of scavenger-hunt hints laid out centuries ago by the vengeful Illuminati. In an ancient volume long sequestered in the Vatican archives, Langdon finds the first of these clues . . . in English . . . with modern spelling . . . and an apparently modern type font.

Foul! And one worthy of a multi-point penalty, even by the permissive standards of Hollywood thrillers. The new "Star Trek" movie takes place in a more believable universe.

Langdon teams up with Ayelet Zurer's brainy and beautiful physicist (replacing Audrey Tautou's brainy and beautiful cryptologist in the first film) to race against the clock, dashing from one church to the next. They are variously helped and/or hindered by a young Vatican functionary (Ewan McGregor), an Italian inspector (Pierfrancesco Favino), a scheming cardinal (Armin Mueller-Stahl) and the commander of the Swiss Guard (Stellan Skarsgard). Despite a few droll moments from Mueller-Stahl, none of these able performers is able to generate the energy boost Ian McKellen provided last time around. (Sadly, the usually reliable Hanks seems even more disengaged than before.)

Despite its commercial success, "The Da Vinci Code" was almost unanimously criticized for its sluggish pace and the way it alternated breathless chases with endlessly talky expository scenes -- a problem inherited from Brown's book. Howard and returning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (co-credited with David Koepp) have now addressed that issue -- reducing the original's bloated running time by an insufficient 10 minutes -- by having Hanks and Zurer continue the exposition even as they dash through darkened passageways fleeing a hired killer (Nikolaj Lie Kaas).

For much of this dialogue, the two shout historical info at each other that both already know: "Quick! We have to find the nearest statue by Bernini!" "You mean Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), the famous sculptor and architect?" No, he means Shmuel Bernini, the Vatican deli owner, renowned for his work in chopped liver. (Slight exaggeration.) It's the sort of exposition that gives exposition a bad name.

brandx@latimes.cm