Praise Sir Ian McKellen in this fine adaptation!

Rating: 8/10 (20 May 2006)

The DaVinci code, i had read in reviews was a complete mess. Therefore, wary of a complete bomb, i wasn't expecting the greatest film of all time, and it wasn't the greatest film of all time. But, it sure as hell wasn't bad.
The start began OK, but until the arrival of Ian McKellen about 45 minutes in, i was beginning to fear that it was about to head severely downhill. Hanks looked one dimensional, Tautou looked like the 'fill in the gaps' support. Thank goodness for Ian McKellen. He really got Hanks going, the middle scene at Teabings château, one of the least interesting in the novel, became the best scene of the film. Suddenly, Hanks had some live, some buzz, and from this point on, its as good a film as it could have been, by no means the greatness Dan Brown wrote, but as good as i had hoped.
The final 10 minutes after McKellen & Bettany (Superb) had no more part to play, left you feeling that once again the two leads weren't quite reaching top form, but, the final ten seconds, closed what was a excellent, but not superb, piece of fiction.
Overall, a fair 8 out of ten!