Old-Fashioned and Boring

Rating: 5/10 (21 January 2007)

Dan Brown's book was basically an old fashioned conspiracy thriller and could have been written by Robert Ludlum or even John Buchan. Potboliers like the Da Vinci Code can make terrific movies in the right hands, the Bourne Identity is a good example. Unfortunately Ron Howard has made a slow, lifeless movie with no tension and characters you don't really care about. The direction was unimaginative and too passive for an action thriller. On the whole it felt like a TV-movie.
The film's hero is an innocent American abroad, who stumbles into a strange world of intrigue and murder. There are safe deposit boxes, police chases through Paris and a damsel in distress. Hanks is pursued by a mysterious organization that will stop at nothing to protect its secret. Hanks is on a roller-coaster ride trying to avoid police capture and is very much in the dark as to the identity of his adversaries until the inevitable twist at the end. The plot is very similar to the 39 Steps and on the whole its a very predictable thriller apart from the "secret". Most of the experts seem to doubt that Christ and Mary Magdelene married and had a child, although its a clever idea. The other stuff about the battles between the Priory of Sion, Opus Dei and the Knights Templar just seemed slightly ridiculous.
The acting was disappointing. Tom Hanks looked bored and disinterested. He's probably made so much money, he doesn't care anymore. Ian McKellen, Paul Bethany and Alfred Molina hammed it up outrageously. Audrey Tautou wasn't quite pretty or sexy enough as the heroine. The dialog was wooden and predictable. Ron Howard may have shot this film down a coal mine because all the scenes are dark and gloomy. Doug Liman or Paul Greengrass would have turned this into a more exciting film.