Angels & Demons

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

This kind of film requires us to be very forgiving, and if we are, it promises to entertain. Angels & Demons succeeds.

The Hollywood Reporter Deborah Young

Plucking the same violent, occult strings as "Da Vinci" while avoiding its leadenness, Angels keeps the action coming for the best part of 139 minutes.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

The movie includes some tony philosophizing about the conflict between science and faith, but it's mostly a beat-the-clock chase through Rome (nicely evoked in Salvatore Totino's lush cinematography).

Time Richard Corliss

As transparent as this device is, Angels has elemental satisfactions in its blend of movie genre that could appeal to wide segments of the audience.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The new movie is an opulent-bordering-on-hysterical mass of chitchat and chase scenes.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

An OK action film, but only the humorless will find it heretical – or educational.

New York Post Kyle Smith

It's got enough going on to sustain five blockbuster thrillers. That is its blessing and its curse.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The movie can be enjoyed for the hell-raising hooey it is.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

A far sight nimbler than its plodding predecessor, where the Holy Grail turns out to be a Holy Girl. The sequel is a little like CSI: Vatican City.

Premiere Patrick Parker

There are so many facts presented that many of them feel forced and trivial. We were also a little disappointed with the twist ending.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Despite the overlong running time, the action moves smoothly and swiftly.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Less turgid and aggravating than its predecessor, this cleverly produced melodrama remains hamstrung by novelist's Dan Brown's laborious connect-the-dots plotting and the filmmakers' prosaic literal-mindedness in the face of ripe historical antagonisms, mystery and intrigue.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Angels & Demons is still no more than another treat for whacked-out male conspiracy theorists.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Technically a prequel to "Da Vinci" but could also pass for a two-hour episode of "24," rarely stands still long enough for anyone to deliver a monologue.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Watching what Howard has done with the book - covering up the lewdness, blunting the snobbery, and spackling the amazing plot holes - is dismaying. This adaptation has the stink of superiority about it.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

At half the length, and with half of Hanks' sneering pretension, this would make a pretty terrific action film.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

This movie, without being particularly good, is nonetheless far less hysterical than "Da Vinci."

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Though complete redemption of Brown's fiction may not be possible, Howard's new film at least represents an upgrade from a mortal to a venal movie sin.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Perhaps this is what fans want from a movie like this: to sit back as if in a Jacuzzi and get a quick impression of history and Rome and such. If so, Howard, Brown and company likely have another monster hit on their hands.

San Francisco Chronicle Amy Binacolli

Preposterous.

Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey

Ultimately everything wilts under the weight of the complicated story lines of its many saints and sinners.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Angels doesn't know when to quit: Just when you think it's over, it continues.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Unlike Nicolas Cage in "National Treasure," Hanks lacks the game for it. The surface seriousness of these Dan Brown movies obstructs his affability and easy, attentive way with romance.

TV Guide Cammila Albertson

Whatever Howard's reasons for keeping things so stale, it was a bad choice, but lucky for viewers, some stories are just too crazy for even the dullest storytelling to completely ruin the fun.

Film Threat Scott Mendelson

One of the more cheerfully dumb thrillers I've seen in a good long while.

NPR Bob Mondello

Presumably in response to criticism that "The Da Vinci Code" was static and talky, director Ron Howard has made Angels & Demons frantic -- and, well, talky.

Washington Post John Anderson

What the movie is supposed to accomplish -- laying out a fairly complex mystery in a way that creates suspense -- is precisely what it doesn't do.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Angels & Demons is a serious slog. Still, it's an odd kind of a slog that manages to keep you partially engaged, even at its most esoteric or absurd.

Slate Dana Stevens

In its last 20 minutes, Angels does attain the status of good bad movie, with a transcendently absurd climax that's great fun to rehash later over burgers.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Might have been classy, entertaining junk -- if only it were entertaining.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

The only thrill here comes from the adrenaline kick of the chase. Alas, it's an empty, Pavlovian kick at best.

Empire Kim Newman

More entertaining than "The Da Vinci Code," but still tosh.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

A shapely, stylish, white-knuckle horror-thriller that hits its marks with blood and thunder. It stinks to heaven, too, but it isn't lame. The streets of Rome haven't run this red since the Inquisition.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Of course, the problem with Angels & Demons is that to get to the final 40 minutes, it's necessary to endure the first 90, and that would be defined as cruel and unusual punishment.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Astonishingly, Angels & Demons IS the same sort of lumbering mediocrity.

The New Yorker David Denby

Brown and now Ron Howard have added an incendiary element to trash--open hostility toward the Catholic Church.