Rushed Job...not what it "could have/should have" been

Rating: 3/10 (5 June 2006)

This was poor movie. Please allow me to take some time to explain why I feel this way. Let me start by looking at it from the POV of someone who never read the book, Someone whose expectations shouldn't be too high.
It seemed like this movie was rushed to get it into the theaters. I don't think too much effort was put into it at all. The acting is anything but good, which is a sign of poor directing (sorry Ron). Except for a few characters (Ian McKellen and Paul Bettany) the acting was mediocre at best. The editing was very bad. The cuts to-and-from the action, as well as key events, were spastic and unclean. They did not flow worth a D@mn. And it wasn't like the movie was intensionally made jumpy as an editing technique. It was just poor editing. I've seen High School student projects with better editing. On the plus side. the DP did a GREAT job. Very nice cinematography and lighting, but that isn't enough to make up for just a plain bad movie. I am sorry Ron, but this film does not reflect your talents as a skilled movie director.
Now from the POV of someone who has read the book, I don't care that it doesn't follow the story line perfectly. I understand that some things just don't transfer to film very well, while other things can be easily cut from the story for time and to make it flow better. Yes there are plenty of changes to the original story, all of which I was able to live with. In fact I am very pleased with how it followed the book, which is usually the biggest complaint when a popular novel is transfered to film. However, anyone who has read the book, would agree that one of the things that made the book such a big hit were all of the codes and secrets, all of the mystery surrounding artwork and architecture, all the history(real or fake). This movie however, treated these elements of the story as an after thought. Every time a puzzle came up, a mystery had to be solved, or a revelation had been made, the movie breezed right through them, never giving the audience time to ponder the clues or to even to 'know' the clues. It went through them SO FAST that even someone like me, who had read the book, had trouble following what was going on and what had just happened (once again much is due to very VERY poor editing). Every part of the movie where things should have been slowed down and given more detail, it was drastically sped up and cut short. Every part of the move that was just transitional and could be taken at a nice easy pace ended up being drawn way out and was turned into the focus of the whole movie. The hidden elements in the artwork and architecture were never explained or given any screen time, except for a short sequence on DaVinci's "Last Supper". Not a single "double entendre" was ever revealed. Not a single element of what made the book such a hit, was added to the movie.
So in conclusion, if you liked the book, don't go see this movie. If you didn't like the book, don't go see this movie. If you have not yet read the book, don't go see this movie. If you never have, nor ever will read the book, because you have absolutely no interest in it or it's subject matter, don't go see this movie. It was made simply for the sake of making it. Zero thought and effort were put into making it a good movie. The screenplay was OK, the directing sucked, the acting sucked, the editing REALLY REALLY sucked, the cinematography was good. It was built on hype and a desire for money alone.