I remember reading the Angels & Demons book right after I watched the first movie in the series, "The Da Vinci Code". The book is set before The Da Vince Code, but this was changed in order to make a sequel, thus the Angels & Demons movie is set after what happened in The Da Vince Code. This had luckily no effect on the story as far as I could tell.
The story is the strongest element and has been nicely written into a script. It is filled with history and mystic and blends fact and fiction in an amazing way. The secret Illuminati society is shrouded in mystery and can give anyone the urge to read more about them. I also liked the way the story blends science and religion making it interesting for a large group of people. In addition the movie features scenes from a huge range of historical buildings and locations found in Rome.
Ron Howard who also directed The Da Vinci Code is back in the directing chair for this movie. He has been given a very good story to work with but I felt as though something was missing this time. It just does not have the seamless flow that The Da Vinci Code had. I had no problem predicting who the bad guy was from fairly early on. I also did not like the choice of actors. Except Tom Hanks and Stellan Skarsgård the actors just did not feel right for the roles.
All in all Angels & Demons is a good movie. It does not live up to the prequel, but is still both interesting and entertaining. It is filled with history and scenes from historical places. The plot twist in the end was also great. If you liked The Da Vinci Code, you will enjoy Angels & Demons as well. 7/10