"Religion is flawed because man is flawed." -Cardinal Strauss

Ron Howard adapted the popular Dan Brown book, Angels and Demons (2009), into a true Hollywood film. It works as a film alone not having to have read the book to understand the plot. All the classic Hollywood film "rules" are used, including a car chase, making it a fast-paced thriller. However is also frustrating for a lover of the book with it's omissions and changes to the story-line. It is like reading the book and skipping pages to get to the action parts. The film seems to rush along in an action-pace without any time for character development and relationships. Understandably there isn't enough time to go into as much depth when adapting a book such as Angels and Demons into a film. This is what could upset the fans of the book, however also motivate the audience to read the book to get the explanations and historical information. At times the dialogue was a little cliched lowering the films credibility. This seems due to being an adaption and fitting the books story-line into a film.

The cinematography shows Rome and it's many great landmarks, statues and churches beautifully being shot on location, except St. Peter's Basilica and square in which scale models were used. Seeing the actual landmarks come to life after reading the book is wondrous.

Tom Hanks portrays the intelligent Harvard professor, Robert Langdon, again with affect, perhaps even better than he portrayed the character in The Da Vinci Code. Ewan McGregor cast as the carmelengo works well in winning the audience early in the film allowing the twist to succeed. Armin Mueller-Stahl, as Cardinal Strauss, was superb in his role believably playing the Catholic cardinal and easily transformed from a possible villain to a good guy. Ayelet Zurer character, Vittoria Vetra, doesn't seem to stand strong and is almost unnecessary leaving out many important character developments present in the book as well as Langdon and Vetra's love interest. Following in the footsteps of the impressive Audrey Tautou, Zurer steps short. Her accent in particular being a distraction.

For fans of the book, the film Angels and Demons could be disappointing yet works as a movie, is easy to follow and keeps the audience interested following a typical Hollywood set of "rules" and leaving the audience satisfied.