Great support acting saves the film-just.

Rating: 7/10 (6 June 2006)

I spent most of this film wondering who would have been better in the role of Robert Langdon other than Tom Hanks. Little doubt the late William Holden for one, amongst many of that era, but in practical terms I kept coming back to Harrison Ford. I thought that Hanks spent his time sleepwalking through the film and there was no chemistry whatsoever between him and his talented leading lady, claimed to be, in a ridiculous ending, the last descendant of Jesus Christ no less. Harrison Ford, along the lines of his excellent interpretation of a very worried husband in the film "Frantic", when his wife was mistakenly kidnapped, ( and also filmed in Paris), would have been far superior to the lacklustre Tom Hanks.
So I say well done to the supporting actors who were basically excellent and literally rescued this film, notably Paul Bettany who was very scary, Sir Ian McKellen of course and the talented Alfred Molina as Bishop Aringarosa. But my personal favourite was Jean Reno as the French Captain whom I thought was first-rate as a somewhat confused but sinister policeman. Therefore despite best efforts from all the actors mentioned, in addition to those with small roles who themselves were very effective, when the leading man is wooden, the whole film inevitably suffers.
The story itself is interesting enough and people can decide for themselves if they accept some of the claims made about the Christian faith. As a regular churchgoer I think that the Roman Catholic Church has over-reacted in its condemnation, as anybody with half a brain could see that it was a film based on a theory, nothing more. In any event the Catholic Church could surely see quite clearly that the Ian McKellen character, who believed it all, was eventually portrayed as half-mad and soon for the funny farm. Indeed by the end Sir Ian was playing it a bit like a pantomime, presumably deliberately. The film was so obviously presented as a piece of fiction. interesting but hardly conclusive. People are intelligent enough to work that out for themselves without the Church telling them what to believe. Anyway there were only 7 people for the Catholic Church to worry about in the cinema where I saw the film!!!
I have not followed the career of Tom Hanks so presumably he is a very talented film star. This performance must have been just a one-off or else he would not have gone so far in his career. But I thought he did not come up to expectations here and was barely adequate. As such a potentially very good film was, for me,just satisfactory, thanks to the other performers and some decent location scenes in France. A chance missed I am afraid and I would seriously suggest a remake in about 10 years time.
Michael Dixon,Sunderland, England.