Could of been done better...

Rating: 6/10 (20 May 2006)

The Da Vinci Code, perhaps the best book I have ever had the privilege to read, and when the fact I heard a movie was going to be made I swore. How can you make a movie that would live up to the book? I have never seen it done, and this movie is no exception.
The casting of Ian McKellan was an inspired choice, as was Jean Reno as Fache, Audrey Tautou was not what I would call my first choice, but she carried the movie along okay, even though her accent did get in the way of some dialogue. Now for Tom Hanks...Tom Hanks!...who the heck in their right mind would cast him as Robert Langdon,...I pictured Dennis Quaid myself.
What made the novel's ending work so well was when they were at the Rosalind Chapel, you never discovered the hidden documents as they did in the movie. It was one of the great twists in the book, you think they have discovered it, but alas, it had been moved, but Sofie discovered her grandmother and her brother,...which was only hinted at in the movie. The way it was done in the movie just threw me out of it completely, I was going to say the movie was acceptable, but the whole Rosalind Chapel sequence could have been done better. Also her grandfather was her grandfather in the book, not just a man who took care of her at birth. Some other subjects from the novel, such as the sex ritual, where not explored in enough detail in the movie. It was just there to be there and for those who have never read the novel it was just plain confusing and seemed out of place. Which was how the movie was like for some friends of mine that have never read the novel. They were confused and lost, always leaning over and asking me questions. The dialogue was terrible,...the whole script in general should have been redone...Dan Brown should have written the screenplay,...usually authors adapted their works better for the screen themselves than to have someone else do it...(a good example of great adaptation is Arthur Miller's The Crucible) I was highly impatient for this movie to be release, but now that it has happened, I feel disappointed and disgusted on the way Hollywood as treated one of the greatest mystery novels of our time. The only thing I found really enjoyable was Hans Zimmers score, which at the end was beautifully done. My bet is the only Academy Award this movie will be nominated for will be Best Score, but the Razzie Awards are going to have a field day.