Angels and Demons (2009)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Robert Langdon	Tom Hanks	½
Carnelengo Patrick McKenna	Ewan McGregor
Vittoria Vetra	Ayelet Zurer
Commander Richter	Stellan Skarsgård	½
Inspector Olivetti	Pierfranscesco Favino
Assassin	Nikolai Lie Kaas
Cardinal Strauss	Armin Mueller-Stahl
Cartrand	Thure Lindhardt	½
Claudio Vincenzi	David Pasquesi
Father Simeon	Cosimo Fusco

Review

I'll freely admit that The Da Vinci Code didn’t make more of an impression on me than that I hardly remember anything of the plot. To put it short, the first adaptation of Dan Brown's works was a bit too clever and overplotted. The complex plot structure is retained in the logical follow-up Angels and Demons, but this time the story holds up better. There are still obvious weaknesses, one of them being the staged and rather awkward introduction, in which characters explain obviousnesses to each other - often more than once. This 'film for dummies' approach does little to revert the impression left from The Da Vinci Code, but as the film settles and director Ron Howard gets into his stride, Angels and Demons develops into an attractive and enthralling mystery thriller with quite useful historical and sociological resonance. Brown's story still can't hide from being constructed, but it's a well-plotted construction with many interesting aspects which also brings solid performances from many quality performers, notably the versatile Ewan McGregor and the always classy Armin Mueller-Stahl.