Faithful to Novel

Rating: 9/10 (20 May 2006)

I saw the movie today expecting to be disappointed. I had read many negative comments from reviewers and individuals who posted on movie sites and was curious how I would feel after seeing it.
I was pleasantly surprised that the movie was very faithful to the story. (Yes, I read the book....three times). There are a few minor changes in the storyline but none that changed the quality of the story. Overall, I thought it was an excellent movie and, judging by the comments I heard from many that were around me, they felt the same.
I wanted to address some of the negative comments I've read. One of the comments I've read often is how awful Tom Hanks was with the dialog. I'm not sure what people were expecting but Hank's character of Robert Langdon is not some James Bond-ish type of character. He is an innocent drawn into the plot and that is the way Hanks played him. Very matter of fact and little emotion. Another comment I read was the poor chemistry between Hank's character and Audry Tautou's character Sophie Neveu. There was no chemistry between the characters in the novel until the end and at no time was it an overwhelming romantic interest. Oh, it may have been hinted at in the book but nothing obvious. Another gripe was that the dialog was poor all the way around. I know there was a lot of dialog about the meaning of the Grail, etc. but that had to be in there. People that have not read the book would have no idea what was going on if the premise of the book was not discussed. Yes, there were stupid lines like at the end with Hanks saying "Godspeed" but gimme a break, it didn't detract from the entire movie. Long movie? Yes...it was. But Brown was not just writing an action novel. He was writing about something that has been debated for 2,000 years and which most people are totally ignorant of (i.e., what the Holy Grail may really be). So if the movie was going to be faithful to the story, there's not a lot that could be cut out and still have the story make sense.
So, that's my two cents. If you want to see it, go see it. I think that people who are open-minded will enjoy it. Those who can't imagine a Christianity in any other way that what the Church has taught for 1,600 years might as well skip it. You'll hate it. Ignore the negative comments....take a look for yourself.