The Da Vinci Bore

Rating: 5/10 (20 May 2006)

I'd only read around 1/3 of Dan Brown's the Vinci Code, before going to see this film, however I was sat with people who had read the book and bar one scene when Silas should've used a candlestick instead of a book/religious trophy, the film was very close to the book, but that doesn't mean it'll be a great film. The film is just full of dull "oh my god it's/that/he/she/they..." type moments, but Howard doesn't embrace that. Instead he makes them dull, better Cinematography could've made a lot of the scenes in the film better instead of boring and mind-numbingly boring. Ron Howard (Apollo 13), is a great director that knows how to exploit the audience for the reactions he wants, however this is quite hard when the suspense and tension dies down before the final 'clue' has been given to Langdon.
Tom Hanks (Langdon) and Tattou (Neveu) had no 'chemistry' what-so-ever, whether or not Ron intended to create 'passion' between Tattou and Hanks, who knows, because the scenes between the two characters look like a half-hearted job at romantic sequence with neither actor caring, nothing is there and it's clear as hell. On top of this you had a stale, yet highly amusing performance from Sir Ian McKellen. It felt at times he was lecturing the audience on the history of the times rather than carrying on the story and with the plot already all over the place, this wasn't needed. The only actor which I enjoyed in the film was Paul Bettany as the religious Opus Dei monk Silas. He fit the psychotic, yet lonely role of lost man perfectly. Jean Reno was same ol', same ol' as yet another detective. Nothing new.
The ending of the film dragged on, was hugely predictable and failed in so many ways that it killed my enjoyment of the film and ultimately was an important factor to why I gave it such a mediocre score. The 'key' scenes were impeded by stone-cold acting that didn't help such a predictable and clichéd script. I hadn't even read the book yet at one point I was able to recreate the script before Hanks had even spoken a word. Following on from this, no tension or suspense, it probably will leave many in a confused state of "oh so that was the twist." It was met with a cold silence as it was forwarded to the audience so poorly, Hanks and Tattou didn't connect on any level needed for such an ending and it was something that could've been covered in 10mins and better.
All in all, from somebody that hadn't read the novel all the way through, I thought it was a mediocre film at best. Remove Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, Audrey Tattou, Jean Reno, Sir Ian McKellen and re-shoot the ending, then you'll have a slightly better film. See Brick instead, it's a lot better film that cost nowhere near what Howard spent (and I'm honestly wondering where the $160 million went?).
5/10