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Angels & Demons
EMAILPRINTColumbia Pictures (Sony)
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 36 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 105 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Crime | Drama | Mystery | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Dan Brown (novel)
David Koepp
Akiva Goldsman
Directed by: Ron Howard
Release Date:
Theatrical: May 15, 2009
DVD: November 24, 2009
Running Time: 140 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Language(s): Italian | Latin | English
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for sequences of violence, disturbing images and thematic material
Starring Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellan Skarsgard, Pierfrancesco Favino, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, and Armin Mueller-Stahl
When Langdon discovers evidence of the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati - the most powerful underground organization in history - he also faces a deadly threat to the existence of the secret organization's most despised enemy: the Catholic Church. When Langdon learns that the clock is ticking on an unstoppable Illuminati time bomb, he jets to Rome, where he joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and enigmatic Italian scientist. Embarking on a nonstop, action-packed hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra will follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that mark the Vatican's only hope for survival. (Sony Pictures)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
This kind of film requires us to be very forgiving, and if we are, it promises to entertain. Angels & Demons succeeds.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Deborah Young
Plucking the same violent, occult strings as "Da Vinci" while avoiding its leadenness, Angels keeps the action coming for the best part of 139 minutes.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
The movie includes some tony philosophizing about the conflict between science and faith, but it's mostly a beat-the-clock chase through Rome (nicely evoked in Salvatore Totino's lush cinematography).
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
As transparent as this device is, Angels has elemental satisfactions in its blend of movie genre that could appeal to wide segments of the audience.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The new movie is an opulent-bordering-on-hysterical mass of chitchat and chase scenes.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
An OK action film, but only the humorless will find it heretical – or educational.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
It's got enough going on to sustain five blockbuster thrillers. That is its blessing and its curse.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
The movie can be enjoyed for the hell-raising hooey it is.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
A far sight nimbler than its plodding predecessor, where the Holy Grail turns out to be a Holy Girl. The sequel is a little like CSI: Vatican City.
Read Full Review >Premiere Patrick Parker
There are so many facts presented that many of them feel forced and trivial. We were also a little disappointed with the twist ending.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Despite the overlong running time, the action moves smoothly and swiftly.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
Less turgid and aggravating than its predecessor, this cleverly produced melodrama remains hamstrung by novelist's Dan Brown's laborious connect-the-dots plotting and the filmmakers' prosaic literal-mindedness in the face of ripe historical antagonisms, mystery and intrigue.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Ella Taylor
Angels & Demons is still no more than another treat for whacked-out male conspiracy theorists.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Technically a prequel to "Da Vinci" but could also pass for a two-hour episode of "24," rarely stands still long enough for anyone to deliver a monologue.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Watching what Howard has done with the book - covering up the lewdness, blunting the snobbery, and spackling the amazing plot holes - is dismaying. This adaptation has the stink of superiority about it.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson
At half the length, and with half of Hanks' sneering pretension, this would make a pretty terrific action film.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
This movie, without being particularly good, is nonetheless far less hysterical than "Da Vinci."
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Though complete redemption of Brown's fiction may not be possible, Howard's new film at least represents an upgrade from a mortal to a venal movie sin.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Perhaps this is what fans want from a movie like this: to sit back as if in a Jacuzzi and get a quick impression of history and Rome and such. If so, Howard, Brown and company likely have another monster hit on their hands.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey
Ultimately everything wilts under the weight of the complicated story lines of its many saints and sinners.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Angels doesn't know when to quit: Just when you think it's over, it continues.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Unlike Nicolas Cage in "National Treasure," Hanks lacks the game for it. The surface seriousness of these Dan Brown movies obstructs his affability and easy, attentive way with romance.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Cammila Albertson
Whatever Howard's reasons for keeping things so stale, it was a bad choice, but lucky for viewers, some stories are just too crazy for even the dullest storytelling to completely ruin the fun.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Scott Mendelson
One of the more cheerfully dumb thrillers I've seen in a good long while.
Read Full Review >NPR Bob Mondello
Presumably in response to criticism that "The Da Vinci Code" was static and talky, director Ron Howard has made Angels & Demons frantic -- and, well, talky.
Read Full Review >Washington Post John Anderson
What the movie is supposed to accomplish -- laying out a fairly complex mystery in a way that creates suspense -- is precisely what it doesn't do.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Angels & Demons is a serious slog. Still, it's an odd kind of a slog that manages to keep you partially engaged, even at its most esoteric or absurd.
Read Full Review >Slate Dana Stevens
In its last 20 minutes, Angels does attain the status of good bad movie, with a transcendently absurd climax that's great fun to rehash later over burgers.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Might have been classy, entertaining junk -- if only it were entertaining.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
The only thrill here comes from the adrenaline kick of the chase. Alas, it's an empty, Pavlovian kick at best.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
A shapely, stylish, white-knuckle horror-thriller that hits its marks with blood and thunder. It stinks to heaven, too, but it isn't lame. The streets of Rome haven't run this red since the Inquisition.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Of course, the problem with Angels & Demons is that to get to the final 40 minutes, it's necessary to endure the first 90, and that would be defined as cruel and unusual punishment.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Astonishingly, Angels & Demons IS the same sort of lumbering mediocrity.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker David Denby
Brown and now Ron Howard have added an incendiary element to trash--open hostility toward the Catholic Church.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.0 (out of 10) based on 105 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Mark F. gave it a9:
A genuinly enjoyable thriller. Fast paced, an intelligent plot, and amazing production values. A little disappointed with how loosely adapted this film was from the Dan Brown novel, but Ron Howard at least pulls some twists of his own to allow the story to keep flowing. A brilliant movie.
Shannon O gave it a3:
The book was fantastic. As a born and raised Catholic myself, I take no offense because the underlying message is that God is real. The movie, however, was an atrocity. Not only did it ignore many key elements of the book, most of what I saw was wrong. It did not stay true to the book in the least. I can see leaving out some elements in the essence of time, but Langon's character was far too quick to believe the Illuminati were re-born; he was not summoned by the Vatican, he was summoned by CERN; Ms Vettra did not find her father, nor did she ever see her father's body; the Camerlango held a completely different role and even switched positions on some decisions from the book to the movie... Need I go on? I was so disgusted in the first 5 minutes that I had to walk out of the room.
Jeff R gave it a4:
Too log, too much catholic nonsense.
Scott D gave it a9:
I enjoyed this film a lot, despite the length and extension of the action (I enjoyed this actually). I found the film very interesting, there was a fair share of action, but I liked the film more on the way it tells the story, and how interesting it was for me.
Chris C gave it a7:
Surprisingly good, much better than the DaVinci code movie IMO. Flowed pretty well.
Luis G gave it an8:
Coming in with little notion of what the previous film was despite wide exposure ... angels and demons plays out as a international easter hunt full of clues and chases. Hanks is far more pausible . Ewan pitch perfect. Enough winks to remain grounded.
Travis C gave it a2:
This movie is garbage from start to finish. Like Dan Brown's novels, it's packed with childish riddles and absurd plot turns that insult the intelligence of the viewer/reader. Broad daylight turns to black night instantaneously and with no explanation. Tom Hanks' character manages to drive across the entire city of Rome in 5 or 6 minutes multiple times. The entire timeline of events is utterly impossible and totally unbelievable. I'm all for suspension of belief, but this is a joke. Everything Dan Brown touches turns to crap.
