Movies Reviews
Movie Review: The Da Vinci Code
By Anne Brodie May 18, 2006, 15:10 GMT
While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to ...more
Early reviews from Cannes, where the much anticipated film made its world premiere, are vicious. The film is dull, wordy, too long, stodgy and grim. There’s no chemistry between stars Tom Hanks and Audrey Taotou.
It’s a failure!
But I beg to differ. Critics must be taken with a grain of salt here, following mind-numbing publicity including the Guinness record-breaking Da Vinci train ride from London to Cannes that has wallpapered our lives of late. That deluge alone would put critics in a mean state of mind.
But there is much to support the film version of Dan Brown’s spectacularly popular detective story. The balance of esoteric quest and car chase is more successful than in the book which seemed to discover there was a screenplay inside, if it could find a reason for squealing tires and the occasional righteous beat down.
The film finds its transition smoothly and naturally through Howard’s wary direction. He’s taken a big idea and compressed it into two and a half hours, ever mindful of Da Vinci’s unique cinematic problems and opposing milieus.
The script is remarkably clean, juggling a laundry list of facts and theories with emotional elements.
If words trouble audiences, then this film may be avoided.
Explication is not offensive in a movie, even if the film is a thriller. DaVinci is a mental journey more than a physical one.
Howard has an eye for pomp and majesty and the bucks to do what he wants. He recreates ancient mythology in the film’s thrilling historical flashbacks. He uses some kind of gizmo wizardry to allow Robert Langdon’s (Hanks) thoughts to be seen in holograms and allow the contemporary characters to blend eerily into ancient flashbacks. It’s clever.
Don’t think any of that comes cheap. While the film is reported to have cost around $125-million, Howard has scrupulously put it where it belongs – on the screen.
Compare that to the bloated ‘Poseidon’ rumored to cost up in the$200-million range and which is of no use to man or beast. That’s failure.
Chemistry: Hanks and Taotou are accused of lacking it. I would argue that when you’re thrown into a life and death situation with someone, you don’t have to fall in love and seal the deal. That would be lazy, formulaic habit.
Their chaste and academic relationship is entirely appropriate. I know we like a little slap and tickle with our thrillers, but this is not one of those stories.
He kisses her on the forehead. End of story.
Is Langdon gay or is he simply respectful of a woman who is far younger and emotionally fragile?
Don’t know, don’t care.
The story is their intellectual journey, not boy meets girl. He may be her lost grandfather or parents, but not her lover.
Hanks has been accused of sleepwalking through the Code, but as an academic, the mind’s the key. It’s a still kind of thing.
Thrills came to him, he never asked for them. Reason is his weapon and the journey is the completion of an academic theory.
Ian McKellen as the Grail scholar and Paul Bettany as Silas, the albino monk offer bravura performances, the backbone, symbol and reason for the ancient battle.
Bettany has a little of Hannibal Lechter under the monk’s robes, and suffers from a perpetual, haunted terror. McKellen is the film’s humour and heart – for a while – and makes it okay to laugh.
So, does Dan Brown know the secrets of the Grail? Does he believe what he wrote?
Should we?
Prediction – bans around the world are free publicity and that’s no secret.
Wide international release day and date May 19, 2006 MPAA rating PG-13 for disturbing images, violence, some nudity, thematic material, brief drug references and sexual content.
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Older Talkback
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Thank you so much for this positive review. Every other critic seems to be gleefully bashing it, perhaps in reaction to all the popularity and hype. I completely agree with you about the Langdon/Sophie relationship working better when it's NOT a romance (I thought that was one of the cheesiest parts of the book), and I'm glad to see that ONE critic recognizes the fact that some people enjoy words and dialogue with their action. This Paul Bettany fan thanks you!
I was very happy to read your review. despite all of the bad reviews I will be seeing this movie on opening night. I thought the book was wonderful and very entertaining. I have good faith that the movie will be too. And for all those people who are mad and protesting need to grow up and get a hobby, because at the end of the day,that's all the movie is,good entertainment.
Good to read an intelligent review of a film I am eagerly awaiting to see!
Ron Howard is an exceptional visionary, and the cast is superb.
Having enjoyed the book, can only imagine that the film will be an exciting thriller and great entertainment.
Thanks for the thumbs up on this film.
I, too, have spent most of the morning ready all the bad reviews. Then I happened across yours, and what a nice balance it makes! I'm not overly surprised that this movie doesn't at first thrill any critics. Ever since I heard that there was going to be a movie made, I noted what a potentially difficult task that might be. This book was intricate! Indeed, I wondered, HOW can all that information and detail be transferred to the big screen and remain entertaining? I'm no movie-maker, of course, so I figured that Ron Howard would just 'figure it out'. Perhaps he has; perhaps he has not. The book contained inifinite amounts of details and description, so that, IF Ron Howard has NOT perhaps achieved an easy transition, what of it? As entertaining as the book is, the movie (as a 'thriller') will undoubtedly be compared to Mission Impossible, also released as a summer thriller. Unfortunately, the STORIES can't compare, and should not be made to. Your review has given me HOPE for this movie, and I am again eager to see it, (having lost some enthusiasm after reading so many poor reviews). With all that said, however, it still remains that anyone who, after seeing the movie, wonders what all the 'hoop-la' was about --- read the book!
The book itself is tediously boring, why should the film be any better. I shall not waste the time to see the film. Enough time was wasted on a tome of tedium.
Thank you for a great positive review! I've read the book and if the movie is even a quarter bit as good as the book I'll be very happy and content.
it sounds crud! but i still watch it and see what its like
I saw the film today and i must say i enjoyed it. The pacing may be a slight problem but overall i agree with everything the reviewer has said.
I went with 2 other people and they enjoyed it to. One had read the book and said it was pretty faithful.
Ant
I saw the movie today and it is nothing close to the book. This film was a major letdown especially because there were changes from what was in the book. The changes were not minor, but changed the story. I recommend reading the book before the seeing the film, you wont look like a jackass while talking to someone who read the book.
I loved the book. I have been hearing bad reviews on this movie until this one. I feel that only intellectual people who can really understand the movie will actually like it. i thought the movie was great...
Ebert and Reoper thought the movie was a lot better than the book. The book was clumpy and random. Other than the theory's its a load of crap.
Ron Howard is a better director than Dan Brown is an author.
I couldn't wait for The Da Vinci Code to come out on DVD Tuesday! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this movie!!! I saw it in Theatres the first night it came out and was completely blown away! I think one of the reasons why I loved the movie so much is because I never read the book. I was able to enjoy the movie for what it's worth...a great thriller with a jaw-dropping reveal at the end. What an amazing story! It's completely plausible and makes a lot of sense! HIStory has always left women out in the dark, as if their existence had no impact on the world today. And the church has always tried to cover up their dirty laundry, and have committed many unnecessary murders in 'the name of religion'. I just want to thank Anne Brodie for her insightful and positive review of the movie. I completely agree with all her sentiments and find it refreshing that there's an intelligent woman out there who's analysis of a 'controversial' film is both insightful and open-minded.
The movie was a complete failure. It disregarded key elements of the story, and posed about 3 historical references. The book had about a hundred references, and helped the reader understand the importance of the ordeal. It was hardley random at all, but instead a set of thrilling twists and turns that this director obviously missed. It is apparent that the makers didn't bother to read or understand the book, and simply used cliff notes as a guide. So much action was missing. The first hundred pages were summed up in ten minutes. Character's roles were also fudged to save time, leaving a false idea of their past and motives. The movie goers were being persuaded to open their mind to new possibilities of the story of christ with one single painting, as opposedto the boooks actual histoical references. A complete dissappointment, I am selling the copy of the dvd i was given. I swear to never watch that piece of crud again.
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cosmosysMay 18th, 2006 - 15:57:04
After a morning of reading negative reviews (which seemed to stem from 1 or 2 critics opinions), my mind has been set at ease with your review. I think people took the hype a little too far, causing disappointment amongst those who can't just sit down and watch it like any other movie.
I shall be going to see this tomorrow and regardless of bad press, i'll be giving it the chance it deserves.
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