Angels & Demons

"Angels & Demons" is a little tougher to review than it should be. While it's certainly better than "The DaVinci Code", that doesn't necessarily make it a great movie.

If you've read the book, or any of Dan Brown's work, you know that every page is filled with a ton of fairly important information. This is difficult to translate onto the big screen without slowing down the momentum of the story. Still, "A&D" does keep the action moving at a nice pace from start to finish. It's only when we have to pause to gain an understanding of the Illuminati (the bad guys), Vatican protocols, and ancient symbols that you begin to get bored.

I like Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon a lot better than last time. The female partner is essentially inconsequential to anything in the movie, but the other side characters are solid. The piece that still bothers me is that for being a "thriller" of an action movie, I was rarely thrilled or on the edge of my seat. Also, be prepared for more violence and killing than you might expect.

Overall, I suspect this one will be around for a few weeks, but certainly won't be a top 10 blockbuster of the summer. You might want to wait for the discount theater as well. I give it a B.

"Angels & Demons" is rated PG-13 with a running time of 140 minutes.