Movie Review of “The DaVinci Code”.

Rarely has a movie been as hyped as “The DaVinci Code”. What with the Catholic church ready to tear down the author’s credibility and suits against him for plagiarism, it’s been in the news constantly. Fortunately for writers worldwide, Dan Brown won his case and the church hasn’t actually threatened to burn him at the stake for heresy. So, the movie opened as scheduled. Now, it isn’t often that good books get made into good or excellent movies, so if you’ve read the book and loved it, don’t expect more from the movie.
Tom Hanks play Robert Langdon (I really don’t like this casting), the symbologist hero, and Audrey Tautou plays Sophie Neveu, the young heroine. The movie does a remarkably good job at delivering the story, even if it takes two and a half hours to do it. The drama, the intrigue and the almost unnoticed infatuation between the two main characters are all well represented. Even though I knew the entire story, I still enjoyed seeing it come to life. Director Ron Howard did an admirable job with what must have been a difficult duty. While it’s not the best rendering of a book to screen, it was very good. Ian McKellen as Sir Leigh Teabing was excellent as well. Paul Bettany as Silar was outstanding (maybe the best of the actors in the movie). This is absolutely a first night movie.

Acting – A-
Director – B+
Writing – A-
Cinematography – A-

Overall, I give this movie an A-.

Comments

[thebizofknowledge]

I stumbled across your blog while I was doing some online research. I think the Davinci Code works much better, as a novel and as a movie, when people approach it as a work of fiction, not as a history of anything.