Suspend your disbelief....

Rating: 8/10 (6 March 2010)

...which is what you'll have to do in large parts of 'Angels & Demons', but then again I'm sure you already know that, right?
'Angels & Demons' - Based upon the novel by Dan Brown (far and above the worst Author to become financially successful) has Tom Hanks (again totally miscast) as Harvard Symbologist Robert Langdon whose needed in the Vatican as four Cardinals - any of whom are favourite to take over as Pope from the recently deceased Holiness - have been kidnapped, with the kidnapper intending to kill each Cardinal on the hour, every hour between 2000 & 2300 with an Anti-Matter Bomb stolen from a Nuclear research facility produced by the Hadron Collider being detonated at Midnight destroying everyone and everything in the Vatican.
Tom Hanks as I said above is badly miscast (as he was in The Da Vinci Code) but he gives the the solid performance that you would expect him to. Ayelet Zyrer is poor, she's practically invisible throughout the Film and there is no chemistry whatsoever between her and Hanks.
The Co-Stars fare better with great performances from Stellan Skarsgård,Ewan McGregor and Armin Mueller-Stahl.
The Assassin (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is poor and a cardboard cut-out baddie at best.
The Cinematography is incredible with 'Angels & Demons' being beautifully filmed and the Direction by Howard is solid as expected.
I've haven't read the book, but having spoken to people who have - It differs greatly and some plot points within the Novel are ignored.
'Angels & Demons' was a Box-Office success taking $485,000,000 Worldwide against a Budget of $150,000,000 meaning that Brown's latest Novel 'The Lost Symbol' is already in Pre-Production - But it wasn't AS successful as The Da Vinci Code - due in part to that particular book being more widely known and read and the critically panning that Da Vinci' received.
'Angels & Demons' is a beautifully filmed and thoroughly enjoyable Film (I saw the extended 140 minute version) It IS slightly overlong and it has some plot holes you could drive a truck through, but when all is said and done, it's absolute nonsense, but well made & hugely enjoyable nonsense.