Suspenseful if you didn't read the novel - Still enjoyable if you did.

Rating: 7/10 (4 June 2006)

If you like Indiana Jones style plot devices such as puzzle solving to find clues, you'll enjoy this flick. There were many twists and turns and a major revelation about the Christian church that would have floored most viewers had they lived in a cave when the book was released or during all the hype surrounding the release of the movie.
In my opinion, all the hype, protests, and TV specials describing what all the hype and protests were about gave away too much of the film's plot. Had this not been the case, I probably would have rated this film a little higher.
I've watched this film get beat up by professional critics and just don't understand why they were so harsh. No this wasn't one of Tom Hanks' best characters, and it probably wasn't one of Ron Howard's best efforts, but if your a fan of the novel, you'll be happy that Tom Hanks played the character "to the tee" and Ron followed the plot line of the novel very closely. This film did not deserve many of the 1 out 5 star ratings I have seen.
Although some of the suspense was lost on me, having read the novel, I still found the twists and turns exciting. Sometimes I knew what to expect next, but there was a thrill in seeing what I visualized when I read the novel actually happening on screen very much as how I had imagined them.
On that same note, I was amazed to see that Dan's Browns descriptions of locations and settings in the novel gave me a very incredible and near exact visual images of how these same locations appeared on screen, and that is to say in real life. I've never been to the Louvre or to the Temple Church in London, but when I saw the scenes on screen in these locations, they were exactly as I had pictured them.
The same held true for many of the characters, save for Robert Langdon. I did not picture Tom Hanks as this character at all. However, after the first scene, I found that he was in fact a good fit for the character.
I noticed quite a few people in the theater, probably those who had not read the novel, cringing and cowering in many suspenseful scenes and eerie depictions of a self-flagellation ritual performed by Silas, the devout Opus Dei disciple played by Paul Bettany. The suspense was effective, and Paul shined in what may seem to most as very far from any character he has ever played.
Overall, a very good film. If your the "wait for the DVD" types, this is one you should not wait for. Go see it in the theater.