Lost in the Frenzy

Rating: 7/10 (7 August 2013)

The best Director's have an unmistakable Style that signifies their vision and Artistic bent. Ron Howard is void of said flourishes and could be categorized as a pretty good Hack. He is the safest of Creators. For a Movie and a Book about clashes of important Life influencing institutions like Religion and Science, this is about being palatable and as inoffensive as possible.
In the Movie it is the chase that drives the narrative. The Philosophy and insights about Ancient Truths and Spiritual deception are bandied about with Folks on the run, getting in and out of cars, and pointing a lot here and there. "What direction is that? South I think."
This is where the Movie mostly fails to be anything more than a very contrived piece of Fluff masquerading as deep stuff. The Plot is heavily implausible at almost every turn. The interesting and intriguing things that make Conspiracy Theories and buried Truths fun, is to frenzied of pace and diluted with rapid-fire expositions and much is lost in the whirlwind.
There isn't a minute of believability in this misfire and while it looks fantastic, the way anyone with a hundred Million Dollars or so could make it look, but is nothing more than visually appealing and that is not what, Thematically, this stuff is all about.