Angels & Demons

Director: Ron Howard Starring: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellen Skarsgård

Ron Howard directs Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon in the second adaptaion of a Dan Brown novel. The film is a fictional mystery thriller, which involves the Roman Catholic Church being attacked by a secret society called the Illuminati as they plan to destroy the Vatican City.

‘Angels & Demons’ was published 3 years before ‘The Davinci Code’, but the film sets it up as a sequel simply by Robert Langdon being told that he hasn’t made many friends with the Church.

The film starts with the death of the Pope and an experiment to create antimatter, which sets the conflict between science and religion. The story is told at a constant pace without slowing down, which is good as you are caught up in the film from the beginning as events unfold. Unfortunately this also hinders the film at times. Especially when Langdon is trying to decipher ancient symbols or understand various codes. The first which involves searching for a information within the Vatican library, making you want to rewind that scene and understand how they got from clue A to clue B.

The end of the film (for those who haven’t read the book) contains a twist, which I was in two minds whether it would happen. It also feels like the pace slows down bit too much compared to the first have and includes a scene that feels slightly far-fetched after making the film believable.

The directing is similar to that in ‘The Davinci Code’ and the architecture is pleasant to look at on screen but mixing this with the few special effects at the beginning and end don’t feel like they blended well together. The acting is good all round, but Ewan McGregor’s Ulster accent does seem to slip slightly.

With the disturbing deaths and violence the overall tone for the film is a lot darker than that of ‘The Davinci Code’ and is not suitable for kids.

Rating: 6.5/10