|
|||||
Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
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, Amazon.com
Stills from Angels & Demons (click for larger image)
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
Product Description
Tom Hanks, Ayelet Zurer, Ewan McGregor, Stellan SkarsgårdDirectors: Ron Howard
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Considering how enjoyable the critically derided Da Vinci Code turned out to be if you didn't take it seriously, it's surprising how weak the slightly better reviewed follow-up turned out. The kind of film that manages to look at once expensive and cheap, it's a lot less effective than the first film - the casting is much poorer, the script considerably weaker (especially one big rallying speech) and the absence of flashback montages makes the exposition seem far more perfunctory than its predecessor, not least because Hanks seems so bored with it all for much of the movie. Even the literal ticking clock device that drives the plot fails to produce any tension despite the high stakes, the villain and his motivation fairly obvious through heavy-handed writing and a couple of strikingly unconvincingly acted scenes long before the absurd sequence involving an anti-matter bomb, a helicopter and a parachute...
Despite the location and material giving it the slight veneer of a mainstream Hollywood stab at a giallo (Dario Argento in his prime could have had a field day with this one), everything is more run-of-the-mill here - even the internal Vatican politics play like the kind of TV miniseries that went out of fashion in the 70s, complete with a feelgood finale that sees its medieval conspiracy theory proved a blind and its atheist hero firmly back in God's good books to reassure the faithful that God is in his heaven and all's well with the Church. It's watchable but uninspired, feeling more like a film that was rushed into production to cash-in on its predecessor as quickly as possibly rather than something that took a few years to reach the screen.
While the US region-free two-disc Blu-ray offers a decent selection of featurettes, only three of them have made it to the single-disc UK Blu-ray, though that does at least include both the original 138-minute theatrical version and the 146-minute extended cut.
Despite the location and material giving it the slight veneer of a mainstream Hollywood stab at a giallo (Dario Argento in his prime could have had a field day with this one), everything is more run-of-the-mill here - even the internal Vatican politics play like the kind of TV miniseries that went out of fashion in the 70s, complete with a feelgood finale that sees its medieval conspiracy theory proved a blind and its atheist hero firmly back in God's good books to reassure the faithful that God is in his heaven and all's well with the Church. It's watchable but uninspired, feeling more like a film that was rushed into production to cash-in on its predecessor as quickly as possibly rather than something that took a few years to reach the screen.
While the US region-free two-disc Blu-ray offers a decent selection of featurettes, only three of them have made it to the single-disc UK Blu-ray, though that does at least include both the original 138-minute theatrical version and the 146-minute extended cut.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Enjoyed this much more than I expected too. More thrilling with twists and turns in the plot than the first movie. Bluray picture was superb on 1080p 50" plasma and HD audio was was equally crisp. The extended version just seemed to have more blood and gore.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Representatives of the Vatican police now approach Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks,) who you might remember from "The da Vinci code". He has been told a mysterious cabal has kidnapped four Cardinals and they are threatening to kill, one an hour, unless their demands are met. Langdon being a symbologist has been requested to locate and free the Cardinals before it's too late. But what is it that they forgot to tell Langdon?
I will not go through the whole story as the bulk of the movie is the surprises that you find as the story unfolds. You will also find you have fun kibitzing with don't go here don't look there.
The movie itself makes a good sequel to the da Vinci code and the characters stay true to form. However, it is too bad if you read the book first as you will find this Langdon is more subdued, and many books characters combined are eliminated for brevity sake.
Although this is an excellent movie and brings up many thoughts and subjects on religion and science, it is still watered down compared to the book. We also find that even though Robert Langdon is in the driver's seat what we miss is the "constantly coming back from the dead" Robert Langdon of the book. In his attempt to make this, a more plausible story Ron Howard has turned Robert Langdon into just another symbologist when he could have been more of an Indiana Jones.
One of my favorite characters in the movie is Inspector Olivetti (Pierfrancesco Favino), he has a great attitude and some good one-liners.
I have only seen the Blu-Ray edition so I cannot compare against the other additions. Nevertheless, be sure to watch the added DVD extras. Some of the extras overlap each other but are still worth watching.
I will not go through the whole story as the bulk of the movie is the surprises that you find as the story unfolds. You will also find you have fun kibitzing with don't go here don't look there.
The movie itself makes a good sequel to the da Vinci code and the characters stay true to form. However, it is too bad if you read the book first as you will find this Langdon is more subdued, and many books characters combined are eliminated for brevity sake.
Although this is an excellent movie and brings up many thoughts and subjects on religion and science, it is still watered down compared to the book. We also find that even though Robert Langdon is in the driver's seat what we miss is the "constantly coming back from the dead" Robert Langdon of the book. In his attempt to make this, a more plausible story Ron Howard has turned Robert Langdon into just another symbologist when he could have been more of an Indiana Jones.
One of my favorite characters in the movie is Inspector Olivetti (Pierfrancesco Favino), he has a great attitude and some good one-liners.
I have only seen the Blu-Ray edition so I cannot compare against the other additions. Nevertheless, be sure to watch the added DVD extras. Some of the extras overlap each other but are still worth watching.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Angels & Demons
Very good story about a crisis at the Vatican. Lots of twists and turns with historical referencing keeping the plot moving. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Peter Thurlow
INSANE
Brilliant sequel, thrilling... Great acting, presentation.. If your wondering about whether to buy it or not DON'T! Just click the add to cart button, you WON'T regret it!
Published 15 months ago by Alex Mourant
The book's better.
Bought this after reading Dan Brown's book thinking it would be worth a look.
And that about sums it up really,it's a reasonably entertaining film of a
very entertaining... Read more
And that about sums it up really,it's a reasonably entertaining film of a
very entertaining... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Audiomad
Not a satisfying watch
I review this as someone who has read the book. So I am not reviewing it as a stand alone folm.
I was dissappointed with this. Read more
I was dissappointed with this. Read more
Published 19 months ago
Angels and demons
One of thee best movies I have seen. Very very in dept great movie 5/5
Published 23 months ago by Jordan Mclean
angels aand demons
this is N Ace movie i have not read the book so i cant compare it with it - fast and THRILLING is what i remember if u want a good action movie see this
Published 24 months ago by george dobbie
A once only watch
This is a once only watch. Quite a long ride to the end but interesting if you see it fresh. I rented it out by accident and found that I couldn't watch it a second time despite... Read more
Published on 16 May 2010 by Mr. A. Crank
The toffee of a dog.
Unlike the majority I think this film is absolute dog toffee. I enjoy intelligent films and literature. I enjoy senselessly stupid films and literature. Read more
Published on 25 Mar 2010 by Dan
better than davinci
fast pace all action film, spoilt by shallow characters and too long for my liking .
Great blu ray soundtrack though , . Read more
Great blu ray soundtrack though , . Read more
Published on 11 Mar 2010 by P. W. JOHNSTONE
Very Enjoyable Film
I have not read the book nor have I read the Da Vinci Code. This was not a film I would have chosen to watch but it was a Christmas present. Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2010 by Peter Thomas
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
