angel and demon represent negative represent clearly something bad have happen to ron howard . i do not know what exactly and but something have go very wrong . howard have always be a decent workman director . while he will never be mistake for an artistic savant both cinderella man and apollo 13 be excellent film and parenthood be pretty good and even angel and demon prequel or sequel the da vinci code be a fun romp . in addition none of his film have be downright awful . ( note i have see neither how the grinch stole christmas nor his new film heidi montag say no to plastic . ) whats more howard manage to hold this quality be such devise genre a star drive oscar bait ( a beautiful mind ) and star drive costume drama ( far and away ) and star driven revenge fantasy ( ransom ) and comedy about prostitution and mermaid ( night shift and splash ) . angel and demon be at it center a poorly direct and shot film . scene be too dark and camera angle be all wrong and the actor block each others shot and the whole affair be often out of focus . this make the telling of an already confusing story even more muddled . dan brown get pick on a lot but i find the da vinci code a fun readable romp ( so sue me ) . the movie version of the da vinci code keep the same where be they go to next vibe of the book and add an attractive cast and attractive location shoot . angel and demon however take place in the claustrophobic confines of vatican city and since howard wasn not allow to film in many of the real location we end up with a lot of run around a cgi back lot . the entire film be a if rick steves do a vatican city special and instead of actually visit the holy city and point his camera and rick have to use lego brick and a second hand art book with all the tit erase . while the da vinci code have what i still think be an intriguing central mystery ( again sue me ) and demon and angel story consist of a plot by the illuminati ( roll eyes now ) to destroy the vatican . their idea be to take position in school for the deaf around the world and rap every student in the as repeatedly . oops my bad while apparently the vatican doesn not need any help on that one . anyway their plan be to infiltrate europe large hadron collider and kill the head priest and and steal three vial of anti matter . this beg more than a few question . can the hadron collider create anti matter . can you capture the anti matter once create . why be the eu collect it . ( perhaps they fear a godzilla attack . ) . why be the head of anti matter gather a vatican priest . now once they get the anti matter they be go to use it incredible destructive power to take over the world no just kid while unfortunately the illuminati haven not quite grasp that pinky and the brain level of sophistication just yet . instead the current pope have just die and it conclave time . the top seed cardinal for the final four pope tournament be all kidnapped and the illuminati be kill them one by one seven style . they be good sport however be leave clue at every murder like some latin theme riddler . oh and the last kidnap cardinal have the anti matter and if he isn not find in time rick steves will have to go straight to venice next year to see decent fresco . if only there be some latin theme batman to save the day . okay the story be truly awful and it be poorly told and but maybe this be one of those film save by great performance . a true character study ( okay you know where this be go ) . tom hank give an incredibly wooden performance and simply look awful ( he be also to old to play the character by about twenty year . ) his love interest israeli actress ayelet zurer have zero chemistry with either hank or the screen . ewan macgregor play the pope personal assistant or cabana boy a an irish man who look like he be about to break into a musical number at any moment provide no one steal his lucky charm . on the plus side stellan skarsgård put in a fine turn a head of vatican security and as far a we know no deaf child be rap during the making of this film which put it ahead of it vatican critic in at least one area .