Movie review of Angels & Demons (2009)
DAMIEN’S RATING of Angels & Demons: 8 – You’ll probably think this movie was worth the price of theatre admission – probably. It’s definitely worth a DVD rental someday.
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Angels & Demons reviewed in 25 words or less: Not quite as good as Ron Howard’s first treatment of a Dan Brown novel, but still solid entertainment.
FULL REVIEW of Angels & Demons
Like just about everyone who saw The DaVinci Code, I was excited about watching Angels & Demons. It was sure to be a winner. Ron Howard directing Tom Hanks in a Dan Brown novel seemed like a formula for a surefire rating of 10. Especially with the supporting talents of actors such as Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellan Skarsgård, and Armin Mueller-Stahl. But after watching Angels & Demons, I just could not give it a higher rating than 8.
This is where I usually give a brief synopsis of the movie. I can’t bring myself to do that for Angels & Demons because anything I say will either be misleading or spoil the movie for others. Let me just say that Tom Hanks is called to the Vatican to help solve a mystery while a new Pope is being elected. Hanks teams up with scientist Ayelet Zurer and starts to unravel the current mystery by studying the mysteries of the past. Confused? Go watch the movie and you’ll understand why I am so reluctant to render a synopsis – and why what I’ve said is somewhat confusing.
I’ve never read Dan Brown’s book, Angels & Demons – so I have no comment about how true to the novel the movie is. I know lots of movie goers are also avid readers, and one of their primary concerns is whether or not the movie version accurately follows the book. On the one hand, I can completely understand this as a curiosity. On the other hand, the fidelity of the movie is not necessary at all to have a winning film. In fact, in my humble opinion, many movies made from books are vastly changed, and much better than their written counterparts.
Angels & Demons is well directed and well acted, to be sure. And as you might expect, the production values of Angels & Demons are impeccable. But as thrillers go, it just wasn’t very thrilling. I can’t put my finger on the missing element, which is I guess why I am not a movie director. But Ron Howard has brought us such movies as Frost/Nixon (2008); The Da Vinci Code (2006); Cinderella Man (2005); The Missing (2003); A Beautiful Mind (2001); How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000); Edtv (1999); Ransom (1996); Apollo 13 (1995); The Paper (1994); Far and Away (1992) and Backdraft (1991) – and so I was expecting a little more than what I got.
Angels & Demons Director: Ron Howard. Stars of Angels & Demons: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellan Skarsgård, Pierfrancesco Favino, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Thure Lindhardt, David Pasquesi, Cosimo Fusco and Victor Alfieri.
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