125 replies to this topic

[Qwerty]

Saw it tonight with a couple friends. Overall, I enjoyed it. It takes a half-hour or so for the "race against time" chase to really kick into gear, but once it does, off it goes.

I'm not sure if those who disliked The Da Vinci Code will love this one, but I'm hoping at least some will. It's a far more entertaining and enjoyable film to watch as far as I'm concerned.

Implausible at times? Sure, but still fun.

[Tybre]

Saw it tonight with a couple friends. Overall, I enjoyed it. It takes a half-hour or so for the "race against time" chase to really kick into gear, but once it does, off it goes.

It's been a few years since I read the book, but as I recall it was very much the same way. All the stuff with CERN was a bit slow and it's not until we get to Rome/the Vatican that it really gets its stride.

[Bryce (003)]

My bad...I thought this was a thread about Evan and Jim....

[Blofeld's Cat]

I'm seeing ANGELS & DEMONS this evening on a rare break from work. Good old fashioned popcorn fare will be more than satisfactory, as long as I can rest my brain.

Edit: literally have taken a rain check, as it has been deemed too wet to go to the cinema. Boo. It will have to wait for another day.

Does your local cinema leak then?

My bad...I thought this was a thread about Evan and Jim....

Damn Bryce!

[Bryce (003)]

Damn Bryce!

Bloody cat...And stay out of my caviar you naughty pussy....It's bad enough that I have to tend to Miss West's this next week.

[Blofeld's Cat]

Damn Bryce!

Bloody cat...And stay out of my caviar you naughty pussy....It's bad enough that I have to tend to Miss West's this next week.

You'll be sad to learn that I've eaten Miss West's as well. Caviar, that is.

I always like to read the book before seeing its respective movie (as I did with TdVC), but due to my poor eyesight I'm currently listening to the unabridged audiobook of A&D. Until I finish it I won't see the movie.

[ACE]

Really, really enjoyed this film. Great popcorn plot-driven stuff yet, surprisingly, thematically rich. It is well-written (I love the reversals by David Koepp and Akiva Goldman), beautifully-scored (Hans Zimmer), strikingly designed (by Allan Cameron) and refreshingly cast (some strong, new international faces - a hallmark, perhaps, of co-casting director Debbie McWilliams). Clear, clean, straight yet information-dense storytelling is Ron Howard's unfashionable forte. It makes him the modern day Sydney Pollack and, as such, underrated. I wasn't too hot on Da Vinci Code, have tried but failed to read Dan Brown but this was a pleasant surprise. Ignore snooty critics and decide for youself...GO SEE IT.

[Aris007]

The movie was very, very good! It was a thriller! A real one! The story was quick but not hard to follow as Da Vinci's Code was! The plot had it's gaps I'm afraid(how the hell did they know the experiment in CERN while it was top secret!), but the Vatican scenes made the film look marvellous! The cast was preety good and Ron Howard's skills are proved once again! I absolutely recommend it!

[Bryce (003)]

Really, really enjoyed this film. Great popcorn plot-driven stuff yet, surprisingly, thematically rich. It is well-written (I love the reversals by David Koepp and Akiva Goldman), beautifully-scored (Hans Zimmer), strikingly designed (by Allan Cameron) and refreshingly cast (some strong, new international faces - a hallmark, perhaps, of co-casting director Debbie McWilliams). Clear, clean, straight yet information-dense storytelling is Ron Howard's unfashionable forte. It makes him the modern day Sydney Pollack and, as such, underrated. I wasn't too hot on Da Vinci Code, have tried but failed to read Dan Brown but this was a pleasant surprise. Ignore snooty critics and decide for youself...GO SEE IT.

That endorsement is enough for me. I believe I've just planned my Saturday afternoon. Cheers my friend.

[AgentBentley]

The DaVinci Code was an enormous letdown after all the hype, but the reviews for A&D say 'it's better, but not good enough.'

That might be enough for me to go and see it, especially since I love the Italian setting.

BTW Isn't everything shot in Italy these days: CR, QoS, Bourne Identity, Ocean's 12, The International ...

[Jeff007]

Do you need to see The DaVinci Code before watching this?

[ACE]

Do you need to see The DaVinci Code before watching this?

No

[danslittlefinger]

Bad Review

Spoiler

http://www.people.co.uk/showbiz/atthemovies/tm_headline=angels-demons%26method=full%26objectid=21347556%26siteid=93463-name_page.html
10 May 2009
ANGELS & DEMONS
Conor Nolan
The Da Vinci Code, based on Dan Brown's best-selling book, was given a mauling by film critics - but still went on to take a staggering £500million at the box office.

Now comes Angels & Demons, based on another blockbuster novel by Brown, with Tom Hanks reprising his role of a religious expert caught up in deadly adventures.

I've no doubt that Brown's army of fans will flock to the cinemas again, but I can't say this movie had me as gripped as the book.
The film is interminably long and punctuated by action sequences that are neither thrilling nor exciting. Not only that, it features a very hard-tohear dialogue track that had me struggling to understand what exactly was going on. The casting of various European actors in supporting roles certainly leads to dialogue problems.
And Ewan McGregor's Northern Irish priest is a truly lamentable performance all round.
However, I also have a major problems with Hanks - he is just not an action star in my opinion. As mentioned earlier, Hanks is back in the role of Harvard academic Robert Langdon, an expert in religious history and symbolism.
And once again he uncovers dark forces at work, in the shape of a sinister brotherhood with ancient roots who will stop at nothing - even murder - to advance their goals. The brotherhood, known as the Illuminati, turn out to be the most powerful underground organisation in history. And their most despised enemy is none other than the entire Catholic Church.
As Langdon digs deeper in his investigations, he jets to Rome where he joins forces with the beautiful scientist Vittoria Vetra (Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer).
In the Eternal City, an assassin working for the Illuminati has captured four cardinals and is in the process of painfully murdering each of them. Robert and Vittoria are also left searching for a new terrorist weapon that could kill millions.
The pair embark on a non-stop hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals and secretive vaults in a bid to save both the Vatican and Mankind in general.
Yet despite all this excitement I was very disappointed by Angels & Demons.
I fully expected the bar to be raised after The Da Vinci Code but sadly standards have slipped further.
For all that, it'll be a monster hit!

Having posted that, I'll still give it a shot.

Damn Bryce!

Bloody cat...And stay out of my caviar you naughty pussy....It's bad enough that I have to tend to Miss West's this next week.

Damn Bryce, you have all the fun...

[Agent 76]

Saw it a few days ago I tought it was good fun. a nice pop-corn movie.

[DamnCoffee]

Seen this today, and I have to say that it was surprisingly good! Very entertaining, took a while to eventually got the plot moving, but none the less, a very good film!

[Righty007]

I enjoyed watching Ayelet Zurer (Vittoria) more than I enjoyed watching the movie but it was good.

[danslittlefinger]

http://movies.yahoo....-star-trek39-ap

NEW YORK - "Angels & Demons" took the box office from "Star Trek" by earning $48 million in its first weekend of release.

The haul was far less than the earlier Dan Brown adaptation "The Da Vinci Code" — which earned $77.1 million when in opened in 2006 — but still enough to narrowly topple the popular "Star Trek."

In its second weekend, "Star Trek" took in $43 million, a strong number after its $75.2 million opening last weekend, excluding its Thursday midnight screenings.

"Angels & Demons" reunites Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard for the sequel to "The Da Vinci Code." It opened without the benefit of the buzz that propelled "The Da Vinci Code" to a $753 million worldwide total.

[Jeff007]

Saw it today in a licensed theatre. The movie was good but the drinks were better.

[danielcraigisjamesbond007]

Saw it in theaters yesterday after work. My consensus? Better than Da Vinci Code!

Sure, it may have skipped some of the things from the book, but if you look at it from a film point of view, it's pretty good!

[Tybre]

Saw it in theaters yesterday after work. My consensus? Better than Da Vinci Code!

Sure, it may have skipped some of the things from the book, but if you look at it from a film point of view, it's pretty good!

And with any luck some of those skipped moments mind end up in the deleted scenes section of the DVD.

All in all though, terrific film. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Mr Teddy Bear]

I found it to be just OK- a bit better than the first one.

[[dark]]

Variety reports that Angels & Demons nabbed the 10th biggest international opening weekend ever, raking in over $100 million.

I'm off to see it tomorrow - looking forward to it!

[Vauxhall]

Whilst I'm not one who is likely to list anything by Dan Brown as my favourite novel ever, I enjoy his books for the obvious amount of research he puts into them. Obviously this is difficult to transfer to film, and it is a struggle to do it justice. The vast differences between the book and film of ANGELS & DEMONS, however, really failed for me. I could rarely see why such changes were deemed necessary. In addition, the opening 20 minutes dragged and the closing portions were very clunkily dealt with - particularly the twist.

[DR76]

I'm not going to see it because, from what I've heard of it, they've completely removed some of the most compelling aspects of the novel for me.

The novel had compelling aspects? I couldn't finish the damn thing. Brown's writing left me bored. Frankly, I think the movie ended up being better than the novel . . . like the THE DaVINCI CODE.

Neither movie is perfect. Nor would I even bother nominating it for any award - even a Saturn Award. But both were solid and entertaining movies for me. Nothing more. Nothing less.

[O.H.M.S.S.]

I liked The Da Vinci Code very much. But I like Angels & Demons even better. Both are entertaining movies with a fabulous international cast and a mysterious plot.

[AgentV]

As one of the four people who admired Ron Howard’s THE DA VINCI CODE as a thrilling, mysterious noir mixed with Indiana-Jones dreams of discovering mythologies, which succeeds mainly due to Howard’s more mature sensitivities, I was looking forward to this. Howard is not the most extraordinary of filmmakers, but his films are crafted in an interesting-enough way to satisfy one’s appetite.

Now, this film does satisfy, but not completely. If ANGEL & DEMONS has one fatal failing that makes it a lesser product than its predecessor, is that it simply doesn’t pull off the climax and last two twists – at all. I know I’m in the minority in this, but I never laughed at the predecessor, no matter how gradually more fictional it was getting. THE DA VINCI CODE kept succeeding into bringing all this fantasized-discoveries into one big mythological adventure, manipulating us brilliantly with Zimmer’s score and adding grandeur to all of it. ANGELS & DEMONS does the same thing, for the most part, until Howard loses utter control of the film and finally falls into the territory of the stupid.

I haven’t read the book, but I don’t know how anyone can hear the idea of:

Spoiler

Having a Priest take a helicopter in the middle of Vatican City, go up to the sky and explode it, and then come down flying with a parachute and be cheered when he arrives as something of an action-hero.

And think that such a thing might not be ridiculous.

The final twist is equally laughable and unneeded. THE DA VINCI CODE at least pulled off its two respective surprises in a sensible and climactic manner. The last one from ANGELS & DEMONS just seems inorganic and for the sake of it – pompous as well.

PS: Is it me, or did good ‘ol Hans Zimmer more or less repeat his Two-Face theme from THE DARK KNIGHT in the scene when McGregor’s character was confronted at the end? Not that I’m surprised, of course…

Great popcorn plot-driven stuff yet, surprisingly, thematically rich.

Well, how so? There's a recurrent mentioning of science vs. religion, but other than the mere mentioning of it continously to give the adventure a pretext, there's really nothing more than a McGuffin.

Edited by AgentV, 24 May 2009 - 11:56 PM.

[Vauxhall]

I haven’t read the book, but I don’t know how anyone can hear the idea of:

Spoiler

Having a Priest take a helicopter in the middle of Vatican City, go up to the sky and explode it, and then come down flying with a parachute and be cheered when he arrives as something of an action-hero.

And think that such a thing might not be ridiculous.

Spoiler

Well, in the book, Langdon was also in the helicopter and he survived a fall of several hundred metres into the River Tiber. The camerlengo, in the book, landed unscathed on the top of St Peter's. So, if anything, the movie was less ridiculous in that respect.

[DR76]

THE DA VINCI CODE at least pulled off its two respective surprises in a sensible and climactic manner. The last one from ANGELS & DEMONS just seems inorganic and for the sake of it – pompous as well.

Actually, I don't agree. I've always found the ending of THE DaVINCI CODE rather hard to watch, because I found it so boring. As for the sequence regarding IanMcKellen's downfall, I found his hammy acting hard to bear. At least the mystery regarding the story's true villain in ANGELS AND DAEMONS was not so easy to guess as the revelation of McKellen's character in THE DaVINCI CODE.

I feel that both movies are basically solid and entertaining films that are not exactly worth getting excited over.

[AgentV]

Actually, I don't agree. I've always found the ending of THE DaVINCI CODE rather hard to watch, because I found it so boring. As for the sequence regarding IanMcKellen's downfall, I found his hammy acting hard to bear. At least the mystery regarding the story's true villain in ANGELS AND DAEMONS was not so easy to guess as the revelation of McKellen's character in THE DaVINCI CODE.

While not the most jaw-dropping twist, I never saw it as criminally obvious. But still, most importantly, I feel it earned the twist from McKellen, if only because it was actually part of a main narrative as to who was the supposed Teacher and had a (relatively) logical preceding to reveal it. Like a magic trick with a poor set-up, my problem with the last one in ANGELS & DEMONS was that it was so against the pace of it all, so obviously superfluous to fool the audience with a random surprise just after having another that it even stands out in a film that is pretty ridiculous as it is.

But perhaps the most apt contrast in this would be to compare the second twists from both films as follow-ups to their first twists and respective climax: the second twist with Audrey Tautou in THE DA VINCI CODE was rather quiet and nicely revelatory, never anti-climactic nor insensible against what transpired earlier. It was neither obvious nor random, but had a justifiable set-up to do the convincible trick and fool us. I didn’t think the second one from ANGEL & DEMONS felt like that, as it was more of a awfully contrived and inert twist to top the first, as something added later to all of it in the mere purpose to have a gottcha-moment. And never mind that the scenario of the revelation itself was rather ridiculous as well (i.e. scene between McGregor and Skarsgård).

And because I just remembered this: I also disliked the “suspenseful” scene at the library.

But really, other than these things, I enjoyed the rest of it.

I feel that both movies are basically solid and entertaining films that are not exactly worth getting excited over.

I don’t exactly disagree with that overall regard, but as I said earlier, I do admire Ron Howard’s previous Dan-Brown adaptation. Although it will continously get accused of boredom. And even though it feels like you're the only one who's cheering an Emp you feel is magnificently attired.

Edited by AgentV, 25 May 2009 - 05:51 AM.

[Skudor]

Saw it a week or so ago. Perfectly adequate, no more no less. Great production, considering that they didn't have any access to the Vatican.