Movie Review: Angels and Demons

[lampie1970]

In the interest of full disclosure: I love Ewan McGregor...and he looks good even in a cassock.

I attempted to read the books. I only did it half way. But I saw Davinci code and even though i wasnt jumping out of my skin for that movie, it actually has grown on me over the years since I saw it. I have watched it on TV a couple more times and I have to say, its not that bad. I dont now why it was given such bad reviews, the only big distracting problem for me was Hanks' hair.

So, when I heard that Ewan was going to be in Angels and Demons, I was OK. There was no : "what is he thinking??!!??" moment. The uncredited actor in this movie is the city of Rome. Having been there, and having LOVED being there, and being willing to go back at a moments notice, this also improves my rating of the movie. I know that the Sistine Chapel in the movie is a set (no one thought the Vatican was going to let them really shoot there, right??), but as they pan through the "Sistine Chapel", it was thrilling. If you wonder what it's like inside, you'll find out.

You have to pay attention to this one, so, dont go sleepy. Plan to eat afterwards and dont go at night...haha. I mean, there is enough thrills and intrigue to keep you interested even if you get a little lost, but it is better if you are tracking with the investigation. Plan also to suspend disbelief a little, some stuff just wouldnt happen in real life. That's what movies are for right? 4

[Kylenz]

I like a good conspiracy yarn, even if it has zero factual basis behind it (such are the Dan Brown novels) - and as an action suspense flick, I enjoyed The Da Vinci Code, and I also enjoyed Angels and Demons.

Great idea to begin the tale in the Large Hadron Collider and the stolen antimatter using the severed eyeballs of the murdered scientist! Gruesome stuff! But like you said about the Sistine Chapel, watching the footage in the LHC was breathtaking!

The action narrative was driven around the "quick, we only have X minutes to reach such-and-such location or the next hostage will be dead", in which during that period of time, Tom Hanks has to sometimes overcome various precarious situations to solve various mysteries and reach the next location in time. I sometimes felt like laughing when he would see an ultra obscure clue jump out at him like a sore thumb and then say something like "oh wow that means we go over here on the map", and I'm like "oh yeah, any fool could see that... not" ..hahaha!!

But it was quite exciting, there was a nice plot twist in there that I did not expect, well worth going to see!

[chris]

i rather enjoy the dan brown novels. but they have yet to translate to a great movie. this movie playes better than davinci code did. i think director ron howard was a little looser with the constrainments of the book than he was with the last one. but it comes down to symbologist robert langdon...knowing exactly where to be and when to be there. always. can anything get past this guy?...sorry, no one is that smart. a filmmakers job is to convince me that what they are showing me is real and possible. ron howard has yet to convince me. but the blockbuster factory that is dan brown will afford mr howard another chance, i'm sure.