A Roller-coaster ride its not!

Rating: 6/10 (22 October 2006)

Of the many hyped-up films of recent times this is perhaps the most disappointing. It could have been a great film but as it's finally presented it is not. Within about twenty minutes of the start, we become disinterested in the numerous revelations along the way because they are thrust at us like a huge sword at every opportunity and then only to keep us awake during the often tedious journey ahead. I'm of the opinion that most of the faults of this film are attributable to Ron Howard's directing. Apart from Apollo 13, his films are drawn out and he has trouble getting the actors to do their stuff. Audrey Tautou as the French agent would have been credible had she not been paired with Tom Hanks for most of the film. Ian McKellen, Jean Reno and Paul Bettany were great in their roles, but Tom Hanks looks very out of place and frequently resorts to a "what am I doing here?" look on his face. He looks totally lost.
Overall, The Da Vinci Code is around an hour too long. There is just far too much repetitive dialogue, as if to make points obvious to the dullest of audience members, and far too little actual story telling. However, the film is far from a total loss as it does pose some interesting questions and the car being driven through busy Paris traffic in reverse was OK but as far as plot twists go most are predictable. Perhaps the marketing hype just worked too well on me and I set my expectations too high, but I think not.