Angels & Demons

If you know the book Angels & Demons, or are familiar with either form of The Da Vinci Code, then you know this is a complicated plot. Instead of giving you much of the actual plot I will stick to observations. I don't want to ruin anything, and I am too lazy to go into the detail that would be required to fully explain the end of the movie.
Your short plot synopsis: Vatican in trouble. Robert Langdon smart. Robert Langdon help Vatican.

In regards to the movie v. the book:

As I am pretty sure you are aware, Angels & Demons comes first in the book form, but the movie made it a sequel to The Da Vinci Code. This has very little impact on the movie except for the fact that the Vatican already has more of an opinion of Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks).

The movie also leaves out or changes a few of the characters. In the book the director of CERN (yes it is a real thing) plays a pretty vital role and I was looking forward to seeing him on screen. However, in the movie the director is mentioned once and his plot responsibilities are put on another character. Besides the time aspect the movie also may have cut the role of CERN out of the plot substantially because they had been less than thrilled with some of the things said in the book and were perhaps insistent that the same misinformation was not included in the movie. The movie also kind of rushes through the first part of the plot, which I get cause of time restraints, but I was looking forward to seeing it play out how I had it in my mind while reading.

The other change that I can think of that was rather noticeable to me was how they changed the relationship of the scientists. In the movie Vittoria (Ayelet Zurer) and her research partner were just partners. In the book they are father and daughter. This is a small change, but it adds so much more to her character. Not only is she helping Langdon cause she doesn't want the antimatter to annihilate, but she is also seeking revenge on her father's killer.

In regards to just the movie:

If I try to ignore the fact that there is a book that was changed to fit the criteria of a movie then I have few complaints. Tom Hanks didn't have the groos hair like in the last movie...he was however wearing a speedo for abou 30 seconds. Ayelet played a really good Vittoria. The best performance of the movie would have to go to Ewan McGregor for his role as Comerlengo McKenna. He had a few speaches and he delivered them well...very captivating. I also enjoyed seeing the papal conclave at work (though you do get more details in the book).

The only other thing I want to mention about this movie is the ambigram. Ambigrams are awesome. Essentially they are a word that is written in a way that you can flip it and still read the same word (or sometimes a different one). There are many different kinds and properties of an ambigram. The 'villain' in this movie is a group called the illuminati (which appears as an ambigram). They use a few others in the movie as well. I find them fanscinating and suggest you pick up the book and flip through it until you find them (or read the whole thing if you really want to). Also of note, the title Angels & Demons was designed as an ambigram for the first edition of the book.

Angels & Demons gets 3 kernels - intersting plot, good action, and ambigrams are cool.