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Angels & Demons is strictly a metaphoric title for movie director Ron Howard's modern day peek into trials and tribulations of Vatican religious life, with specifics related to papal authority, governing issues, and separation of church and state. No matter what a moviegoers religious beliefs are and even if moviegoers have no preference, those seeking intelligently written, acted, and directed screenplay are bound to enjoy this thought provoking science fiction mystery drama. Tom Hanks, Ayelet Zurer, Ewan McGregor, Stellan Skarsgard and Pierfrancesco Favino are a few of the magnificent movie cast members who act out the wonderful performances that bring Angels and Demons' crime filled sequences to life.

Following the story's unhatching with the death of a great religious leader, Angels & Demons keeps audiences seat-edged by whipping its main characters into unraveling hurry up and do this before something bad happens clues. The clues are deciphered using the movie mystery solving styles a la Silence of the Lambs and The Bone Collector. As Tom Hanks' character Robert Langdon, a well-informed United States symbologist, uses his vast array of church related knowledge to lead his accompanying actors through an ostensibly unsolvable pursuit, strings of strange ironies transpire that could prevent him from accomplishing his goals. Included in those ironies are (1) those who requested Langdon's help wind up questioning his intentions and (2) Vatican members he agrees to assist use issues with his religious beliefs - or lack thereof - as indicators suggesting he may not "truly" be qualified to help.

Although movie critics overwhelming adorned Angels & Demons with mere two-and-a-half to four-star ratings, audiences clearly had differences of opinions as assessed by ticket sales topping the box office to the tune of $48 million big ones during the flick's opening weekend, which began Friday May 15, 2009.

Moviegoers intrigued by selection and placement of scenery as much as they are by acting, directing, and story lines may have senses of being in seventh heaven while engulfing the influx of paintings, statues, and other Vatican related artifacts shown in direct relation and incidental to the Angels & Demons' plot.

Due to violent scenes and images appearing for extended durations and due to displays of bodily brandings in manners that may be offensive to some viewers, the movie rating is PG 13. Parents who concern themselves with where to draw lines regarding movie content children should and should not to see may not want their children to watch this one.

Angels & Demons' runtime is approximately two hours and twenty minutes. This lengthy runtime provides the justice this well-deserved five star movie may not have been able to receive in a shorter timeframe. Adding Angels & Demons to one's movie collection will definitely strengthen said collection when the movie comes out on video.

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