Tom Hanks Movie:

		List Price: $24.94		Label: Sony Pictures Salesrank: 9839 Released: November 24, 2009
		Our Price: $15.52
		MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: UMD for PSP

Editorial Review:
In Ron Howard's thrilling follow-up to The Da Vinci Code, expert symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) follows ancient clues on a heart-racing hunt through Rome to find the four Cardinals kidnapped by the deadly secret society, the Illuminati. With the Cardinals' lives on the line, and the Camerlengo (Ewan McGregor) desperate for help, Langdon embarks on a nonstop, action-packed race through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, and the most secretive vault on Earth!

Description of Angels & Demons [UMD for PSP]:
If the devil is in the details, there's a lot of wicked fun in Angels & Demons, the sequel (originally a prequel) to The Da Vinci Code. Director Ron Howard delivers edge-of-your-pew thrills all over the Vatican, the City of Rome, and the deepest, dankest catacombs. Tom Hanks is dependably watchable in his reprised role as Professor Robert Langdon, summoned urgently to Rome on a matter of utmost urgency--which happens to coincide with the death of the Pope, meaning the Vatican is teeming with cardinals and Rome is teeming with the faithful. A religious offshoot group, calling themselves the Illuminati, which protested the Catholic Church's prosecution of scientists 400 years ago, has resurfaced and is making extreme, and gruesome, terrorist demands. The film zooms around the city, as Langdon follows clues embedded in art, architecture, and the very bone structure of the Vatican. The cast is terrific, including Ewan McGregor, who is memorable as a young protégé of the late pontiff, and who seems to challenge the common wisdom of the Conclave just by being 40 years younger than his fellows when he lectures for church reform. Stellan Skarsgard is excellent as a gruff commander of the Swiss Guard, who may or may not have thrown in with the Illuminati. But the real star of the film is Rome, and its High Church gorgeousness, with lush cinematography by Salvatore Totino, who renders the real sky above the Vatican, in a cataclysmic event, with the detail and majesty of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. --A.T. Hurley

Stills from Angels & Demons (click for larger image)

Angels & Demons [UMD for PSP] Reviews:
If you read the book... you will hate the movie!
2009-11-28 - This movie was completely awful. I have already got over the fact that Hanks should not be playing Langdon and that a lot was going to be cut but I never expected the movie to be this bad. I loved the book. I could not put the book down. Here are some of the things the movie is missing:

1. There is no Max Kohler in the movie. AT ALL
2. There is no Gunther Glick or his camera woman. Or any scenes that involve what they do

Here are some big differences:
1. In the movie the Olivetti contacts Langdon and flys him to Vatican City in a Vatican aircraft
2. In the movie Olivetti is not head of the Vatican Guards... He is a regular police officer
3. Vittoria had a huge team working on the antimater.
4. Vittoria found her father dead... They do not even really explain that it is her father.. and they do not show he is branded
5. They do not mention the illuminati diamond, nor do you see it.
6. They do not talk about the IVF or The chamerlengo's mother
7. Baggia survives

I could keep going but I think that you get the picture. It is extremely disappointing.



A sin to buy
2009-11-28 - I haven't seen this but I know that the DA VINCI CODE and this movie are totally disrespectful not only the catholic church buy all christians in general. I would not waist my money on this or even accept it as a gift. Tom hanks has degraded himself by being in garbage like this!!!

As with A&D the book, better than the DVC
2009-11-27 - I enjoyed this movie on many levels. To me it was good art: great special effects -- especially the simulated matter-antimatter explosion, nicely scripted from the book, very well directed, well acted, intriguing, and exciting. The depiction of the funeral of the late pope, Sede Vacante, and the Papal Conclave to elect a new pope were especially fascinating to me. I remember some of the events immediately following the death of John Paul II and appreciate Ron Howard's handling of like events in Angels and Demons.

Tom Hanks seemed a lot more like Robert Langdon in this movie. An agnostic as in the book, Hanks/Langdon made the spiritually insightful statement that "faith is a gift," but honestly admitted that he had not yet received that gift. With that said, he put the pedal to the metal in trying to unravel the clues in time before any more of the four cardinal papabile were murdered. And he was not unnecessarily distracting to Vittoria. He let her perform her critical tasks as well. After all, she had been traumatized by the grisly death of her mentor and would not have been in the mood for playing around.

The scientific aspects of the movie were interesting. It begins at CERN in Switzerland, where scientists are presently conducting experiments that may produce antimatter or microscopic black holes, all in an attempt to replicate conditions similar to the original singularity event -- the Big Bang. The idea of producing a "god particle" is not irreverent, but it may actually promote a better understanding of the beginning of creation by a transcendent power. A&D the movie, even as fiction, whetted my appetite for some of the wonders of cosmology. Whatever faults related to deviations from the book do not penalize this movie even one half of a star, in my estimation. Highly recommended! Fr. Dennis Mercieri

Its just better ...ok!
2009-11-27 - More action and excitement than Da Vinci Code which is more than I expected... Doesnt tie the last movie in which is nice. The name I found misleading so I skipped this movie at the theater. What the title does infer is the relation to righteous and evil / good and bad .. therefore Angel or Demon. Very good flick!

Angels & Demons is Superb
2009-11-27 - After viewing Angels & Demons, and reading other reviews, I want to read the book. Movie goers are often disappointed that the film does not follow the page, but I would hate to endure a movie that followed War and Peace to the last period. Having said that, Angels and Demons addresses a centuries-old issue that continues to vex the faithful and the sceptics alike. As Cardinal Strauss said, "Religion is flawed because men are flawed." But then, so is science. Angels & Demons addresses the on-going conflict between "faith" and "fact" and comes to a satisfactory, though temporary, solution because even those of us who hope the two will meld are also flawed. Despite the necessary chase scenes, the story line to the climactic surprises and denoument provides the viewer something to ponder.