Poorly executed with no payoff... a waste of time

Rating: 1/10 (4 June 2006)

The tension in this film is so clumsily handled that often times Howard gives himself away before he intends to, the brief edge-of-your-seat moments are ruined by obvious hints at was is to come next and by long digressions into seemingly irrelevant information. Alternately, the character development seems to be an afterthought. Back stories are handled as absurd flashbacks that, when the film finally comes to fruition, actually have little or nothing to do with the trajectory of the story. For instance, Tom Hank's character, Robert Langdon, is claustrophobic, but he spends most of his time in wide open church spaces or in the comfort of Leigh's château. His claustrophobia only acts as an artificial attempt at tension in a couple of scenes on planes and elevators, but it has not significant effect on the outcome of any of the supposedly thriller-moments. As for Paul Bettany's character, Silas, Howard has cast him in the role of a ghost... again. Perhaps Howard doesn't know what else to do with him other than make him into some caustic phantasm that wasn't meant for this Earth. And if that isn't bad enough, near the end of the film he actually declares, "I am a ghost" just in case you didn't get it. I'm afraid that Howard is a one trick pony who revisits glowing letters from A Beautiful Mind because he simply wasn't equipped to direct this film.
I myself went and saw this film out of curiosity having no real penchant for the book, but an interest to see how Tautou and Hanks could handle a thriller with so much buzz and controversy surrounding it. Don't waste your time, even though I didn't expect to love it, I certainly wasn't prepared for how clumsy and boring it turned out to be. Tautou is far more appealing as French shut in with an overactive imagination and Hanks more charming as a slightly dim southerner with a heart of gold. SKIP THIS ONE, IT'S NOT WORTH THE TIME OR THE TICKET PRICE.