Was it a Mistake to Read the Book First???

Rating: 3/10 (12 November 2006)

I have read the book 3 times, and I found it so great that after having read it the first time, I immediately started over to read it again. Having read the book 3 times, I know about most of the (sometimes) intentional faults and mistakes the book contains (just one of them being that the number of glass-parts in the Louvre-pyramid is not 666, some people say it is 637 instead which I doubt as well, because 637 is not dividable by 4 without a rest (as is the case with 666).
But knowing all the faults and flaws of the book, it is still a masterpiece in what it intended to be, a nailbiter as a thriller, conspiracy theory, fictional and mystic, a good base for discussions as many things COULD be as the book describes them, even though some are most unlikely while others are not.
However, I was eager to see the film even though I feared possible disappointment. And how disappointed I was (and still am). Tom Hanks is a total miscast and acts throughout the whole film as if he hadn't to do ANYTHING with the stat or the plot, he just acts as if he wouldn't belong there. Audrey Tautou is no better. No question she is a beautiful girl with beautiful eyes, but that's not enough for the role of Sophie Neveu. Sophie is a clever young woman driving the story forward actively in the book, not so in the film. She too seems to belong somewhere else, to another story, but not to this film.
I wonder if all this comes from bad and poor directing alone, since Sir Ian is doing a great job as Sir Leigh Teabing as does Paul Bettany as Silas. But that's all. Even Jean Reno as Bezu Fache is performing at his worst, I have to say, even though I normally like Jean Reno a lot, but not in this film.
It can only be bad directing (and a bad script most likely too) that has turned this great and thrilling book into a less than mediocre and disappointing movie. Films rarely are as good as their books, but did it have to be THAT bad?
Not to talk about the disappointment that stems from the script: even though this is a 2:47 hours film, they have really made it to have some important things missing, like e.g. that in the book there are 2 crypts (a smaller one in the big one), the code for the bigger one being "sofia" and when they open the first cryptex in the book, you believe that finally ... "ahhhh, at last they have unveiled the secret, they finally made it", just to find out that nothing was won with this victory, since just another cryptex comes to light and suspension continues. Not so in the film. And this is not the only thing left out, not the only aberration from the book. Even though the have 2:47 hours time to deal with all that, Ron Howard and a miscast of crew have made a total disappointment of what could have been a great movie otherwise.
However, for all those who have not read the book yet, it could be worthwhile to watch the movie, so they can be pleasantly surprised later on when the read the book later. Was it my mistake to chose the other order?
One good thing at least is, that when you buy the Limited Edition of the DVD, you get a really nicely done copy of a real cryptex in the box (even though the price is horrifying).
For the general public my recommendation is: read the book, read it twice or as often as you like, but leave out the movie. Better you make your own movie in your own mind, it will most likely be much better than the film by Ron Howard.
Sad, very sad and a great disappointment!