A Nice Balance of Dramatic Thriller and Intellectual Mystery

Rating: 8/10 (22 January 2019)

21 May 2006. Ron Howard has created an amazing intellectually stimulating religious mystery-thriller without distracting and unnecessary special effects and action thrills. Most of the important action sequences are tame by current standards and straightforward but are more compelling for their simplicity than their implausibility, especially considering the premise of the movie. The twists and turns are nice and the lengthy ending is more Fahrenheit 451 (1966). The pacing of this verbose and convoluted symbolic deciphering is intriguing and consistently entertaining. Tom Hanks offers a sympathetic character who articulates the story well. The tension oozes out in strategically timed sequences. The weakest part of the movie is the opening sequence which seems more forced and awkward in its presentation and photographic technique. Most of the characters are presented with more than stereotypical two-dimensional depth. While this movie could have been more powerful in The Passion of The Christ (2004) in terms of start realism, this more summer blockbuster provides its audience with religious exploration and controversy as acceptable entertainment This movie breaks new religious ground for mental exploration with an important message for the sexual division in our society. It's approach is positive and mysteriously sad at the same time. The criticism of Ron Howard holding back isn't in evidence here, except for those people eager for division and conflict for its own sake. But such a dramatic heightening of controversy would belie the true intent of the movie. The movie offers hope of an uplifting outcome as a result of the production of The Da Vinci Code. Eight out of Ten Stars.