See the film before reading the book!

Rating: 5/10 (22 May 2006)

I succumbed a month ago to buy the Da Vinci Code book and I was pleasantly surprised to find a cleverly thought out book merging fact with fiction to produce a damn good story. However, the film was sadly lacking for me as it skipped over some of the more interesting parts of the book. Obviously a film can never fully recreate every thought mentioned in the book, but there were obvious omissions which could have easily been included. (I am awaiting the DVD Director's cut edition to see if they made the cutting room floor!) The supporting cast were superb, and not something that I had obviously noticed in other films - maybe because Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou were a little disjointed together I noticed it more. Jean Reno as the 'Bull' Fache was particularly good. Without reading the book first, however, I think that viewers would have really enjoyed it as a light thriller with excellent locations and wonderful trick photography - Newton's funeral cortège for one was brilliant and brought me out in goosebumps. My husband is now reading the book AFTER seeing the film and he is now agreeing, although he did enjoy the film more than me! A few moments when I jumped or cringed kept me on my toes though, so overall not bad but could do better.