Blah: It breaks the promise of The Library Scene

Rating: 4/10 (14 November 2006)

I once read that there are two surefire ways to kill a movie: drown the production in excess and saddle it with lifeless colors. One producer even went so far as to blame the failure of the Cohen brothers' film "The Hudsucker Proxy" on the fact that it was a "big, brown movie." Well, "The Da Vinci Code" is a big, brown movie.
It's a flat, by-the-numbers adaption that sucks the life out of the book (despite its pompous idealizing and overzealous soundtrack). Yes, it captures all the plot points. Yes, it scrupulously honors the book's themes. But in the process of capturing and honoring, it forgets to have fun. Of course the book had some big ideas, but it was all in service of a pulp fiction thriller. The movie forgets its pulp roots.
There are moments that Brian DePalma would have milked for B-movie thrills, that Steven Spielberg would have infused with wit and child-like wonder, that Bryan Singer (as fond as he is of brooding heroes) would have given humanity and a well-deserved shot of adrenaline. This should have been a Saturday matinée serial (the kind which Spielberg and Lucas love so much). And, in fact, the best scene in this movie involves a classic serial moment: The Library Scene.
You know The Library Scene. It happens early in the original "Lost World" 1925 film when Professor Challenger reveals that he has discovered dinosaurs in South America and convinces journalist Ed Malone to join him on an adventure to the jungle. It happens in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" when Indy explains to a pair of officials the mystical history of the Ark and the perilous nature of the quest they must undertake. It happens in "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" when John Hammond describes the dark island overrun by escaped dinosaurs and convinces Malcolm to infiltrate it. It happens in "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" when Gandalf tells Frodo the mystery of the ring and the terrible journey he must make to destroy it.
The Library Scene may be the most exciting scene in any adventure film because it is so full of promise. It lays out a map of things to come -- danger, thrills and discovery. In the case of "Da Vinci," the Library Scene comes late... half-way through the movie, showing us not just what MAY lay ahead but what we've already missed out on. With the brilliant monologues of Ian McKellen (Gandalf, once again), this movie's Library Scene is tense, involving and full of promise. Unfortunately, the rest of "Da Vinci" doesn't live up to it. It becomes too serious, and, in the final scene, ridiculously melodramatic. In fact, that final swooping camera shot displays, quite literally, the fanatical devotion the filmmakers must have had to their source material. Is Tom Hanks on his knees? Is he actually WORSHIPPING Dan Brown?
I didn't necessarily expect Indiana Jones. But I would have liked the filmmakers to spend more time on the drama and the thrills and less time on the "big" and the "brown."