Angels & Demons

Released May 15, 2009, by the team that brought you The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons (PG-13) is a 2 hour mystery/thriller starring Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, a professor in Harvard, trying to stop a bomb from going off in the Vatican. The influence of the Da Vinci code is prevalent in this new film by Ron Howard, being that the book is by the same author, Dan Brown. It can go two ways for people who haven’t had a taste of Dan Brown yet. One, every move, every plot turn and obscure biblical reference will all make perfect sense. Or two, the exact opposite, things will start to become almost comical. The clues will seem to start to make fun of themselves almost on purpose like they know how convoluted their clues must seem to your average movie goer. With a nod to the confusion caused by the Da Vinci Code by people who either didn’t read the books, religious nut-cases and conspiracy theorists who didn’t seem to realize that although based in real world places and times, Dan’s work is in the fiction category. I can’t tell if Tom Hanks gave a lame performance or if he just did a really good job portraying as professor. And I haven’t been watching any of the movies he has been in lately. For some the clues will start to mush together and the plot will becomes so foreseeable, it’s not even funny. So be careful, if you feel that you fit into any of these categories, this movie might end up being a waste of your money. I think that Angels and Demons might have raised some eyebrows with the actual Vatican but apparently not as one of its reviews claim that Angels and Demons is ‘harmless entertainment’. And really, it is. Angels and Demons, along with the Da Vinci code are fiction. I think where a lot of people get mixed up on the issue is when they get sucked so far in to dan’s realistic fiction type plots, a fiction setting with uncontextualized facts. I give Angels and Demons 3 out of 5 stars because it has good actors, good acting- you’d be surprised how often those two things don’t come together- and a decent, if not over done plot.


1 Star - Avoid at all costs.
2 Star - Only buy if you’re a fan.
3 Star - Rental for anyone.
4 Star - It’s worth it to see in theaters.
5 Star - Buy. Make it a part of your permanent collection.