Angels & Demons -- I highly encourage you to read the book as Howard’s reimagining leaves much unsaid. Or if you do have a desire to see this embarrassingly painful film, please do so prior to reading the novel or you will find yourself immeasurabl... (read more) Angels & Demons -- I highly encourage you to read the book as Howard’s reimagining leaves much unsaid. Or if you do have a desire to see this embarrassingly painful film, please do so prior to reading the novel or you will find yourself immeasurably unsatisfied. Much like The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons the movie fails to do justice for an extremely impressive novel. It is so disappointing to say that Howard’s interpretation really doesn’t deliver. I have just one question: were the actors in the movie playing Brown’s characters from the book or were they newly carved in a dense world with scattered bits of action? I’m going with the latter, personally. There was little of the novel’s original essence preserved in this highly disappointing film.

I guess with the bulk of the budget going toward the sets and visual aesthetic, the ensemble cast had to correspondingly be largely scaled down. Ayelet Zurer tried to step into the void left by Audrey Tautou, but given Tautou's character having a lot more stake in the film, Zurer's character Vittoria had much less to do other than waiting in the wings to change some batteries on a canister filled with anti-matter. In the book she's the fodder of course for Langdon to converse his vast knowledge of the Vatican, the Illuminati and the great feud between the two. Here she's neither love interest nor his intellectual equal. Ewan McGregor, on the other hand, steals each scene he’s in as the aptly named Camerlengo. His performance was delivered with enough nuances to let you know there's more than meets the eye. McGregor is the key highlight and, perhaps, only decent actor in this film.

Sadly, Ron Howard set the audience up with a pace that doesn't allow for even a temporary breather. Unlike the first film where you had the characters sit down for some "discussion time" over a cup of tea, this movie moved things along so quickly that it lost the essence of the original text, page after page being skipped just to get to the thick of the action. Just imagine the book…. now take out all of the essential players, crucial details, and exciting plot points. Bam! You have the movie in a nutshell. The most pleasing part of the film is the cinematography. I found it a beautiful film to watch, but otherwise it was all just a cringe-worthy mess. I could go on for pages about all of the film’s inconsistencies with the book and how awfully sub-par it was, but I won’t waste any more of my time.

I read Da Vinci Code but not this. It's not Ron Howard's best, but he makes it work.

The book was wayyy better.

uhm...i like the book much better

Je n'ai pas vraiment été un grand grand fan du Code Da Vinci, je l'admet... mais ici, hormis un acteur principal convaincant dans son rôle, j'ai peu accroché à l'histoire... Je n'ai pas vraiment été surpris par le scénario, ni envieux d'en sa... (read more) Je n'ai pas vraiment été un grand grand fan du Code Da Vinci, je l'admet... mais ici, hormis un acteur principal convaincant dans son rôle, j'ai peu accroché à l'histoire... Je n'ai pas vraiment été surpris par le scénario, ni envieux d'en savoir plus (film regardé en 3x), je n'ai pas été aussi étonné par les éléments eglise/science mis en avant, tel que je l'avait été dans Da Vinci Code...

Bref, du 100% blockbuster, gros moyen pour suivre un concept qui avait fait de grosse rentrée... mais au final un résultat bien fade.

Ron Howard's follow-up to the stiff, stately 2006 The Da Vinci Code, might have been classy, entertaining junk -- if only it were entertaining.

Ron Howard directs a pell-mell script (David Koepp, Akiva Goldman) with more agility than he showed in Code. Though the story suffers intermittent daftness.

Angels & Demons is better, though not by much, than 2006's Da Vinci Code. The story, however, is less interesting and even more far-fetched.

Without pretensions to profundity, the movie can be enjoyed for the hell-raising hooey it is.

Even though the sluggish Da Vinci Code is an easy act to follow. There's not a moment of inspiration on display here, but ample craft and professional technique.