'Angels and Demons': A Tale of Two Critics

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Hollywood Reporter:

If the world could be rendered as simple as “Angels & Demons,” we’d all be living in a less confusing place. Taking to heart the critics’ lament that the first Dan Brown novel-to-film “The Da Vinci Code” was talky, static and arcane, director Ron Howard and his crew have worked hard to make Professor Robert Langdon’s return a thrilling, faster-paced walk in the park.

Kristopher Tapley:

I’m not going to review “Angels & Demons.” Sometimes the idea of tearing a film apart just doesn’t quite appeal to me, believe it or not. But watching the expected unfold on the Sony lot last night, it suddenly occurred to me that Dan Brown’s bloated if intriguingly researched fiction has no place on the big screen. It might, in fact, be better suited to television.

I haven’t watched scripted television since “The Sopranos” ended and “Law and Order” took a rocketship to the planet HateBush, but people I trust tell me the writing’s better than ever, so maybe Tapley’s offering a compliment?

Or not.