Angels & Demons Movie Review
Angels & Demons Movie Review
It's hell to be the pope.
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A disembodied eyeball sure to please Fulci fans kicks off the chain of deaths in Angels & Demons, continuing on with throat slashings, live-burnings, a corpse being gnawed by rats, stabbings and drownings. Yes, Angels & Demons is gorier than its blockbuster predecessor, The Da Vinci Code — but of course, it is still pabulum for the masses in a PG-13 format, starring everyman Tom Hanks and guided by popular director Ron Howard. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but some episodes of "CSI" are more gruesome and have more suspense.
That notwithstanding, Angels & Demons is, in my opinion, a marked improvement over The Da Vinci Code. There is still tons of exposition and sermonizing (even while literally on the run, Hanks' professor Langdon is spouting historical facts between huffs and puffs!), plus the usual too-easy clue busting (he immediately spots 400-year-old text in a sacred book by Galileo at The Vatican, and later slips into a "secret" passageway within 30 seconds of arriving on the scene). However, the overall pace is brisker, and the acting is absolute aces across the board: Costars Stellan Skarsgard, Ewan MacGregor, Ayelet Zurer, and Nikolaj Lie Kaas.
The story follows Langdon as he races against the clock to help diffuse a bomb which is sure to incinerate all of the Vatican City and parts of Rome to Kingdom Come, and to stop the serial killings of a number of high-ranking Cardinals all in line to become the next Pope. The Illuminati appears to be taking credit for these terrorist acts, but Langdon thinks there may be more sinister forces at work behind these deadly threats.
The overall look and feel of the movie is similar to The Da Vinci Code (thanks to a return of much of the same crew), and we do get a great look at Rome's finest treasures, locations, cathedrals, and cityscapes. Angels & Demons is a decent timewaster, but it does begin to feel like a sermon after awhile. Tighter editing and fewer windy speeches would have helped, but since it is an improvement over The Da Vinci Code overall, and since Hanks is settling perfectly into the Langdon persona (he's a bit wryer here), I'm willing to accept small miracles and do look forward to further adventures.
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson