Definitely better than The Di Vinci Code, but still lacking

Rating: 6/10 (15 July 2009)

Angels and Demons is another movie adapted from one of Dan Brown's best selling novels. Like The Di Vinci Code before it, Angels and Demons pits symbology expert Professor Robert Langdon against a thought to be extinct society. Once again the Catholic church is targeted for humiliation and destruction. Instead of revealing a giant cover-up by the church, Robert Langdon unravels the reason behind four church officials being kidnapped and has to find them before they are murdered publicly one by one.
This story feels very familiar yes, but just as with the books I enjoyed this movie more than The Di Vinci Code. The story is more fantastic than the other one, although still grounded deep in historical facts and accurate knowledge of the workings of the church and government agencies that get involved. This element of the story is what draws people to these movies and the books that they are based off of. There is nothing like it out there. Most movies are far over the top of realism so that you can escape into the world on screen, but with Angels and Demons you feel like you are watching news coverage of an actual event taking place. You can easily put yourself into the shoes of the characters and have the adventure with them.
This face is probably the saving grace of this movie, because the acting sure isn't the greatest out there. While Tom Hanks has made some great movies ( we have all seen Forrest Gump and Apollo 13 ) this really isn't his best work. While it could have been the director mucking things up; I really think someone with his level of experience should be able to overcome such hurdles and turn out something on a higher scale than this.
I still enjoyed myself throughout the movie, even knowing the story and the ending. This definitely is more of a rental though. Seeing it in the theater did nothing to enhance the experience for me. I would much rather be comfortably in bed or on the couch watching this than pay the expense of the movie theater.
So, the final verdict is wait for the dollar theater or to rent Angels and Demons. While the story is solid, it's too much like the last movie in the plot and acting.
Written by Sam for www.overcranked.net