Decent adaptation

Rating: 7/10 (6 January 2007)

I will not be getting into the gist of the movie...book sold 60mil copies ..and by now you all know...
I also will not argue the possibilities...but simply judge the movie on the merit..having read the book so... here are my thoughts I think ian mckellen was not really believable as a bad guy/mastermind...he could have been...but he seems to smile throughout the movie...didn't really give me a badguy feeling(like in x-men) silas was very good...although i'd prefer a bit more brutal/gory (like in the book).
Hanks and Tautou were fine, although there was no chemistry...u would expect them, as they solve the riddles, to more finish each other's words..
jean reno's role was BS...in the book the way he was described and the dialogue went..you could feel his presence...in the movie he basically had useless dialogue...
I think special effects/flashbacks were by far the best part of the movie...they weren't confusing or scrambled but fairly clear...
I know what you gonna say....you cannot compare book to a movie..and its true..where are very very few movies that are as good as a book my guess.
The biggest problem is with the adaptation and cutting material...they left out a lot of flashbacks...so that the terror/anticipation you feel when you read, you don't feel it here(the whole scene with opening the safe box...was a joke/could have been done a lot better).
Also, i didn't like the french speaking policemen or Latin(Italian?) cardinal/silas...least they could do is give us some kinda translation in the subtitles (the whole 2nd plot about betrayal or the cardinal and such would have made it a lot more layered, like in the book)...
like that scene when they found them at mckellen's place..obviously the armored car had a GSP..i guess they talked about it in the policy office...but its a guess...if they had some sort of subtitles it'd been clear.
perhaps making this a 3 hr movie would have been implausible since most ppl who did not read the book won't sit through a 3 hr movie and producers who put that kinda money for it,...wont risk it a nice.
director's cut would be nice...adding 30-40 min of footage..more flashbacks to her childhood would have added necessary ambiance.
also...in the end when they show the reason she stopped talking to him...i always thought it was different than in the movie...more of some sort of sacrifice or the killing or maiming perhaps