Angels & Demons (2009)
★★½ — Angels & Demons (2009)
Released in 2009 and based on Dan Brown's novel of the same name (which was, rather confusingly, published before The Da Vinci Code despite being treated as its cinematic sequel), Angels & Demons drops Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon into the heart of Vatican City on one of the most significant nights in the Catholic calendar: a papal conclave. The premise draws on real historical anxieties around the Illuminati, a secret society with genuine roots in eighteenth-century Bavaria, and sets them against the rituals and architecture of modern Rome. It is the kind of high-concept thriller that plays well on paper, mixing religious history, explosive conspiracy, and a ticking-clock structure. Whether the finished film lives up to that concept is, of course, another matter entirely.
Ron Howard returns to direct, having shepherded The Da Vinci Code to enormous commercial success three years earlier. By 2009, Howard was an established Hollywood veteran with a track record ranging from prestige drama (his Oscar-winning work on A Beautiful Mind) to broad family entertainment, and the Langdon series sat squarely in his wheelhouse of polished, mainstream filmmaking. Produced through his own Imagine Entertainment alongside Columbia Pictures, the film was a major studio production, shot on location across Rome and Vatican City (with some interior sequences recreated on set, given that the Vatican itself declined to grant filming access). The production design is undeniably impressive, whatever else one might say about the film.
Tom Hanks reprises his role as Langdon, bringing the same low-key, professorial charm he established in the first film. Alongside him, Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer plays physicist Vittoria Vetra, while Ewan McGregor takes on the role of the Camerlengo, the Vatican's acting chamberlain during the conclave. Stellan Skarsgård and Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino round out a capable supporting cast. It is, on the surface, a well-assembled ensemble, and the Rome locations give the whole thing a visual weight that a lesser production would struggle to achieve. Whether the pieces add up to something genuinely satisfying is the question worth asking.
Angels & Demons (2009) reteams Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, and Dan Brown’s world of religious conspiracy, but this time, the magic is mostly gone. It’s not a bad film by any means, but compared to The Da Vinci Code, it feels flatter, more formulaic, and less intellectually engaging. The premise sounds thrilling on paper, and there are moments of tension, beautiful shots of Rome, and that familiar puzzle-solving rhythm as Langdon races against the clock. Hanks slips back into the tweed jacket with ease, and Ayelet Zurer brings quiet strength as physicist Vittoria Vetra. The visuals are strong, the score is suitably ominous, and the Illuminati backstory adds a layer of historical intrigue. But the plot moves like a checklist: clue, chase, church, repeat. The stakes feel manufactured, the twists predictable, and the deeper questions about science vs. faith get drowned out by over-the-top action and melodrama. It lacks the boldness of its predecessor, the sense that you’re uncovering something dangerous, forbidden. Instead, it plays like a standard-issue thriller wearing a smarter coat. There’s no real shock, no lasting impact. Watchable, polished, and occasionally exciting, but ultimately forgettable. An average entry in the genre, saved only by its setting and Hanks’ steady presence. Not heresy. Just… underwhelming.
For me, that "standard-issue thriller wearing a smarter coat" line pretty much nails it. I kept waiting for the film to do something that felt genuinely risky, to commit to the science-versus-faith argument it keeps gesturing at, but it never quite gets there. It is the kind of film that mistakes movement for momentum, and by the time the credits roll, you realise you have watched nearly two and a half hours pass without feeling particularly changed by any of it. Ron Howard has made films with real bite, and Hanks is as watchable here as he is anywhere, but neither of them can paper over the cracks in the script. If this is your first Langdon film, you might enjoy the ride well enough. If you have already seen its predecessor, I suspect you will spend much of the runtime feeling like the series has shifted gears in the wrong direction. Worth a Sunday afternoon, perhaps. Not worth a second one.
Rating: ★★½ | Year: 2009 | Watched: 2025-10-04
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for Angels & Demons (2009) on YouTube
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: YouTube TV
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
Affiliate disclosure: Movies With Macca may earn a small commission on purchases or subscriptions started via these links. It costs you nothing extra.
Related on Movies With Macca
More from Ron Howard: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) · Inferno (2016) · The Da Vinci Code (2006) · A Beautiful Mind (2001)
More with Tom Hanks: Toy Story 4 (2019) · Inferno (2016) · The Da Vinci Code (2006) · Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2020)
More from Italy: Nightmare City (1980) · Cemetery Man (1994) · One Way or Another (1975) · Chicken for Linda! (2023)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More thriller: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Angst (1983) · The Long Walk (2025) · Punishment Park (1971)
More mystery: Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025) · Carnival of Souls (1962) · One Way or Another (1975)
