Pleasantly surprised

Rating: 9/10 (22 May 2006)

(Contains some minor spoilers) Like millions of people around the world I read The Da Vinci Code novel. While I was not impressed with the writing, I found myself lying awake late at night. The novel was a real page turner despite the far-fetched premise and factual errors. I happened to know something about the early period of Christianity, so I knew that the novel had some truth when describing Constantine and the existence of hundreds of Gospels and about the sad demise of the Knights Templar, but these were buried beneath some truly awful dialogue.
I had planned to watch the movie to see what the hype was about, and I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised by Ron Howard's take on the source material. I can see how the novel does not translate perfectly into a movie, but Howard has paced it very well, resulting in an enjoyable historical thriller that jumps around some wonderful locations and culminates in the beautiful Roslyn chapel. The acting is very good, Hanks shows why he has won the Oscar on repeated occasions, and McKellen is magnificent as usual. Tautou does not shine as she did in Amelie, but she is more than adequate. Bethany's Silas stands out, he is much better than the novel, and it lends some depth to otherwise flat characterisation. I can see that many people will complain about the anti-climatic ending, but I actually found it very moving, perhaps the best part of the entire movie.
Do not let the critics and the Church spoil this, I think that it was highly enjoyable and I will definitely be seeing it again.