"Angels & Demons," again starring Tom Hanks as Langdon and directed by Ron Howard, hits local theatres today against a backdrop of the church vs. science.

The film opens with the death of the pontiff in Rome, while at the same time scientists from the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) secretly create anti-matter, also nicknamed "The God Particle."

The pope's succession quickly becomes a pretext for conspiracies within the church and threats from an ancient secret brotherhood called "The Illuminati," which plans to kill four prominent cardinals in line for election as the new pope.

Famed symbologist Robert Langdon is recruited by the Vatican to decipher the clues linked to the centuries-old secret society in order to save the kidnapped cardinals, who are to be killed on the hour.

"He is not the man the Vatican trusts – he is the man the Vatican needs," Howard said in production notes for the movie, drawing a line between Hanks' character in "Angels & Demons" and in "The Da Vinci Code." The latter outraged the Vatican and some Catholics because of its fictional story lines about conspiracy and the Catholic church.

Nevertheless, the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, ran two editorials on the premiere of "Angels and Demons" held on May 1 in Rome, neither panning nor praising the film, but rather offering up a mix of positive and negative comments.

One of the editorials called the film "ephemeral," but also conceded that it was "gripping" and called the camera work "splendid." It called the film "pretentious," but added that Ron Howard's direction was "dynamic and alluring."

The other editorial, headlined "The Secret of His Success," said the church should ask itself why such a "simplistic and partial" vision of the church as portrayed in Dan Brown's works is so successful, even among Catholics.

Indeed, Brown is invariably playing on the latent contradictions and conflicts within the Catholic church, and don't expect Howard to try to find alternatives in his film.

Though "Angels & Demons" preceded "The Da Vinci Code" in book form, the film is positioned as a sequel to take advantage of the strained relationship between Langdon and the Vatican.

Also, Ewan McGregor – Obi-wan Kenobi himself – plays the brave young priest who runs the Vatican between the time of the pope's death and the election of his successor, against a backdrop of tension during the conclave – the misdirection seems heavy-handed.

Meanwhile, Langdon gets help along the way from Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer), an Italian scientist who worked at the lab where "The God Particle" was stolen for the planned attack.

Never mind that the sexy and mysterious Vittoria is not so sure about her ability to deactivate the device; never mind that the time frame is impossible -- they must dash across the historic city at night, ahead in time to stop each killing; here's the best part: The bomb is a container of anti-matter.

Wherein the film and book suggest that anti-matter could be produced in useful and practical quantities as a limitless source of power, CERN's scientists have long pointed out that anti-matter cannot be used as an energy source because creating it takes more energy than it produces.

So it's time for the unavoidable comparisons of "Angels & Demons" and "The Da Vinci Code." While the former has a more suspenseful storyline with the anti-matter bomb and the race to prevent the destruction of Vatican City -- both share a hired assassin, a tough and beautiful woman as Langdon's sidekick and mysteries that require extensive knowledge of art history, religious symbology and secret societies – the latter had a more innovative and complex story line regarding the "Holy Grail."

Besides, turning the Illuminati into ruthless terrorists after they obtained "The God Particle" is equal to make the cause precede the effect. Why aim at destroying the Catholic church if you already proved that men can emulate God through science?

Anyway, Robert Langdon is a protagonist that you can't dislike in the sequel, although "Angels and Demons" takes longer to get going, with new puzzles taking longer to solve and too much character background given for too many characters.