Great Disappointment

Rating: 6/10 (22 May 2006)

I could not wait for this movie to come out. I was so psyched up to see it that I had sleepless nights because of the anticipation! Imagine how I must have felt to finally take my seat in the cinema and having the lights dim...
I became so caught up in the thought of the movie that I completely forgot my criticism about the book! When I first read it, I thought "WOW, what an interesting story! Pity about the predictable "Goosebumps"-type plot, though." I had read somewhere that Dan Brown said the film sticks very close to the novel, and boy does it ever! All the people who criticized Chris Columbus for sticking too close to the page for the first two Harry Potter movies have to be very thankful that Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman Didi't have a shot at it. For the most part, The Da Vinci code literally translates the novel from page to screen. That is, they translate the STORYLINE, in my opinion the weakest aspect of the book. The thing that kept me reading late into the night was the interesting codes being cracked and the wonderful intellectual treasure hunts around art and history.
Instead, we get the boring, predictable storyline that skips over the code cracking in a "Bee Season" type of way. Added to this, we jump so suddenly from location to location that it all just becomes a blur. Don't get me wrong, the pacing could have been quicker, but at least tell us where we are, won't you! The characters were so shallow, even though Akiva Goldsman tried (and failed) fleshing them out a bit. Quite frankly I Didi't care about one of them, except maybe Sophie, but only because I love Audrey Tautou. Tom Hanks was terribly miscast and his funny hairstyle was just plain distracting.
I suppose my main quibble with the film is that it was done in a very unimaginative way. This is the sort of novel that needs to be reinvented when being adapted for the big screen. Purists may want to kill me now, but honestly, why watch a movie if you don't get anything new you couldn't get in the book? Other than this, it was quite an enjoyable night out. I Didi't feel I wasted my money, but I really did expect more from (Academy Award Winner) Ron Howard. Although, I would give him another Oscar for managing to make a movie feel RUSHED and SLOW at the same time!!! That takes some doing.
And finally, would it have killed the cinematographer to shed a little more light on the wonderful location, the Louvre? I couldn't see any of the paintings, it was so dark! (Yes, I know it was supposed to be dark, but come on! How many people get the opportunity to shoot a $125 million movie in the Louvre?)