Above, a new Angels & Demons trailer for the Ron Howard/Tom Hanks sequel to the adapted Da Vinci Code, solving cryptograms in theaters May 15th.

Inside, I surf book reviews of Angels & Demons to pin-point, in others words, structure problems that I’m pretty sure are going to carry over into the movie, including one implausible (SPOILER!) fall I suspect made the film version…

From “Brian” at GoodReads:

If someone wrote these books but instead baited the Jews or Muslims there would be a huge outcry. Bashing Catholics and depicting them and their history in the way Dan Brown does in these books is outrageous and should be criticized and shunned.

From the Free Fall Research page of Fictional Falls:

Angels and Demons — Robert Langdon, hero of Dan Brown’s “Angels and Demons” (and also of “The Da Vinci Code”), survives a leap from a helicopter and a fall of thousands of feet into Rome’s Tiber River. His fall is slowed somewhat by a windshield tarp (four yards by two yards with convenient bungee loop handles) that he takes with him when he exits the chopper, which is about to explode. He was remembering something he had learned earlier in the novel in a laboratory in Switzerland: “one square yard of drag will slow a falling body almost 20%.” Langdon is hospitalized briefly but he leaves of his own accord shortly after being pulled nearly lifeless from the “churning” Tiber River. The raging Tiber River is so “frothy and air-filled” that it is “three times softer than standing water”.

From DogMad at ReviewCentre:

I did enjoy this book immensely, that is till I got to the end. Without wanting to reveal too much for fear of spoiling it for other readers who haven’t read it yet, the whole book was spoilt for me by Robert falling from a great height, using a windscreen cover as a parachute and surviving - a lazy ending to a good book.

From Jim M on Amazon:

It begins well. The first half is quite interesting with all sorts of interesting facts and theories. Very readable.

But, the finale, the last 150 pages so is so outlandish, so implausible, so laughable you can’t believe this is in a published book. Without giving anything away, it is like a cross between THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and the INDIANA JONES movies. Featuring running, jumping, helicopters, all sorts of ridiculous elements that ruin the book. It could never be made into a movie as no one would believe it.

And from S. McWalters, also on Amazon:

…my main beef with the book is that it’s insulting to the intelligence. We watch the main characters, supposedly brilliant in their fields, stumble around like a hapless horror movie cast. “Don’t go in there, you morons!” we want to shout. Or, “For God’s sake, I understood that 2 chapters ago! Are you just now having this revelation?? Get on with it!”

Tom Hanks is pretty charming, and Ron Howard still has the eye, but they are pulling from very flawed source material.

Just how much can you polish a turd, you know?