Entertaining, which is all that I ask of it

Rating: 7/10 (2 June 2009)

Despite all the flaws with Dan Brown's writing style, Angels and Demons was a very entertaining piece of "detective" fiction. Where Da Vinci Code had many scenes of sitting around, sipping tea and discussing art, A&D had a much faster pace to it, which translates significantly better to the screen. The history aspect which DVC capitalized on is surely present, but to a somewhat smaller degree, allowing the plot to stand on its own two feet.
Fans of the book should know it stays mostly true. Sure, you can whine about stuff like "omg no guy in wheelchair" or "omg she was his daughter not his partner", but the essence is definitely intact. One twist at the end is left out, but it felt forced anyways in the book, so I believe its best as is.
Still has the weaknesses of the book, but is much better than its predecessor as it is less of the "history" lesson (note the quotes). Tom Hanks still isn't perfect, but he's learned some of his lessons from the last one. Overall, if it looks like the kind of thing you'd like, you probably will. If not, you won't. It's a simple little movie like that.