Angels, demons, and Nixon

By chance, I saw two Ron Howard movies almost back to back recently, Angels & Demons and Frost/Nixon. Like many folks my age or older, I have fond memories of little vanilla Ronnie Howard as: 1) Opie, Mayberry's best-behaved kid; 2) Marion the Librarian's little lisping brother in The Music Man; 3) well-behaved 50's teenager Richie Cunningham on Happy Days. Perhaps knowing he'd quickly lose his cute looks (and hair), Howard changed career course and has now secured a place among the top rank of high-powered film directors.

His movies aren't bad, but I find him an unexciting and not terribly original talent. Splash, Cocoon, Apollo 13, Willow, EdTV, and The DaVinci Code are all solid, respectable films and, apparently, crowd pleasers, but none have really stayed with me. A Beautiful Mind is perhaps the exception that proves the rule, but that is memorable more for the acting and the screenplay rather than the directing style.

Frost/Nixon follows in the usual Howard mold: more than competent but unremarkable filmmaking featuring two very good performances. It's the background story of the ground-breaking TV interviews that British talk show host David Frost held with disgraced former president Richard Nixon. Actually, it's about Frost and his attempt to break out of what he considered a second-rate career; though the character of Nixon almost dominates the proceedings (thanks to Frank Langella's excellent performance), the narrative focuses on Frost, well played by Michael Sheen. I enjoyed the film as I sat through it, but only three weeks on, it's fading from memory.

On the other hand, Angels & Demons, Howard's latest theatrical release, is pretty darned fun. I read the Dan Brown novel that the film is based on a few years ago. Like The DaVinci Code, it's a faux-literate thriller featuring symbologist Robert Langdon tracking down esoteric clues embedded in history, art, and architecture in order to solve a string of murders, and in the case of this film, the possible destruction of the Vatican by a vial of anti-matter. Tom Hanks is OK in the role, though he seems an odd choice for the role of Langdon as he didn't get to use his considerable charm or humor in either film. The devilishly handsome Ewan MacGregor is very good in the main supporting role as a potentially powerful priest, and as in DaVinci Code, the lead female (here, Ayelet Zurer) has little to do and works up no chemistry with Hanks.

The film doesn't really come to life until about halfway through, partly due to the amount of exposition involving art and history. The surprise here is how well Howard handles the action-filled climax. I might even consider seeing this one again. Still, I'm thinking that Beautiful Mind might be the peak of Howard's career.