Angels & Demons
Sony Pictures Releasing | Release Date: May 15, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
23
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
This kind of film requires us to be very forgiving, and if we are, it promises to entertain. Angels & Demons succeeds. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah 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. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderAndrea 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). Read full review
70
TimeRichard 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. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The new movie is an opulent-bordering-on-hysterical mass of chitchat and chase scenes. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
An OK action film, but only the humorless will find it heretical – or educational. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie 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. Read full review
63
PremierePatrick 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. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
The movie can be enjoyed for the hell-raising hooey it is. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle Smith
It's got enough going on to sustain five blockbuster thrillers. That is its blessing and its curse. Read full review
60
VarietyTodd 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. Read full review
60
Village VoiceElla Taylor
Angels & Demons is still no more than another treat for whacked-out male conspiracy theorists. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Despite the overlong running time, the action moves smoothly and swiftly. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene 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. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley 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. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
At half the length, and with half of Hanks' sneering pretension, this would make a pretty terrific action film. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
This movie, without being particularly good, is nonetheless far less hysterical than "Da Vinci." Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
Ultimately everything wilts under the weight of the complicated story lines of its many saints and sinners. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Angels doesn't know when to quit: Just when you think it's over, it continues. Read full review
50
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. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianShawn 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. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleAmy Binacolli
Preposterous. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael 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. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineCammila 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. Read full review
50
Film ThreatScott Mendelson
One of the more cheerfully dumb thrillers I've seen in a good long while. Read full review
40
EmpireKim Newman
More entertaining than "The Da Vinci Code," but still tosh. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)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. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
The only thrill here comes from the adrenaline kick of the chase. Alas, it's an empty, Pavlovian kick at best. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe 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. Read full review
40
SlateDana 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. Read full review
40
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Might have been classy, entertaining junk -- if only it were entertaining. Read full review
40
Washington PostJohn 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. Read full review
40
NPRBob 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. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames 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. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Astonishingly, Angels & Demons IS the same sort of lumbering mediocrity. Read full review
30
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Brown and now Ron Howard have added an incendiary element to trash--open hostility toward the Catholic Church. Read full review
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