There is a bizarrely appropriate moment in the middle of Ron Howard's Angels & Demons when Tom Hanks' conspiracy-busting symbologist Robert Langdon -- rushing frantically across Rome to prevent reborn secret society The Illuminati from murdering a Cardinal -- has to stop and ask a tour guide for advice. It's certainly not played for comedy, and nobody particularly took it as such, but it sums the film itself up perfectly. Forget all the talk about whether or not it's anti-Catholicism, forget hulking bestseller status of the source novel, forget all the trappings of big-and-serious film. Strip all that away and you'll see Angels & Demons for what it really is: a surprisingly entertaining romp through Rome, a guided tour through some amazing scenery, and a National Treasure style adventure story, all polished up and put into a fancy suit so adults won't feel guilty about getting their adventure fix. And you know what? There ain't nothin' wrong with that.

Here's the basic story. Hanks reprises his role as Robert Langdon (The Da Vinci Code), a seemingly atheist scholar and an expert on secret societies and their symbols - particularly the hidden history of the Catholic church. And while the events of The Da Vinci Code have certainly not endeared Langdon to Church leadership -- though Angels & Demons was written as a prequel to The Da Vinci Code it is presented here as a chronological sequel -- they have planted him in the Church's collective mind as a formidable opponent and a top-notch authority on elements of Church history that they themselves know very little about. So when four Cardinals are kidnapped by a group claiming to be the Illuminati, who promise to publicly execute one Cardinal per hour before bombing the entire Vatican at the fifth hour, Langdon is called in to help.

(Oh... the bomb? Antimatter stolen from a particle collider, of course. So everybody who likes to rant -- correctly -- about Dan Brown's laughably shoddy research on Church history and his eagerness to subscribe to long discredited conspiracy theories will be glad to know that his treatment of serious science is every bit as poor. He's an equal opportunity offender. Anyway, I'm digressing...)

Not being the sort to hold a grudge, and recognizing that cooperation will get him long-denied access to the Vatican archives, Langdon agrees to help and is quickly whisked away, his task being to piece together the secret pathway to the ancient Illuminati meeting place where he believes the bomb is being stored. The path is set to take him through four churches -- each of which will be the execution site of one Cardinal. Got that? Four churches and four dead guys, followed by one big boom unless Langdon can figure out the puzzle and put a stop to it. Ready? Go!

And this essentially is the film. The archaeological adventure story is, obviously, nothing that hasn't been done before. Indiana Jones is the gold standard for these things but there are also the aforementioned National Treasure films, the Mummy films and lesser titles like Romancing The Stone. And while Angels & Demons would like to maintain the pretense of being more mature than any of those other films, and thus more palatable for the adult audiences that it craves, it is very much cut out from the same cloth. Execution is everything in these films. You need the action to move at a steady clip, which this very definitely does, once you get past the exposition-heavy opening act. You need a likable lead that brings the kind of quality upon which Hanks has built his entire career. You need some tense action set pieces, which again, Angels offers by the handful. You need a striking, exotic setting. Yep, got that too. And, most of all, you need an interesting cast of supporting characters.

And that last bit is what really makes this film work. Ewan MacGregor is a fantastic choice in a key role, turning in his typical solid work. Also strong is Stellan Skarsgaard, leading the film's surprisingly strong Nordic contingent as the head of the Swiss Guard charged with Vatican security. Also key is Danish actor Thure Lindhart as another Swiss guard who has several key scenes with Hanks / Langdon, while the coup d'etat is the casting of Nikolaj Lie Kaas -- another Dane, and one of my very favorite actors in the world, finally getting a decent English language role -- as the brutally efficient assassin hired by the behind-the-scenes villains to carry out their plot. To be a good hero you've got to have a compelling villain, and in Lie Kaas Angels & Demons has a spectacular one.

The prevailing complaint about The Da Vinci Code -- even if it did go on to make $700 million worldwide -- was that it took itself too seriously. No such problem here. As dressed up as it may be, Angels & Demons is a great big popcorn film that just wants to entertain you -- and it does so surprisingly well.