Alas and alack.......

Rating: 3/10 (20 May 2006)

Well let's see....Ron Howard is a great and accomplished director, the success of past films has proved that. Tom Hanks and Ian Mckellen are both fine, successful actors, awards and accolades have proved that. Dan Brown wrote a provocative and bestselling novel, millions of copies in sales have proved that. So at the convergence of those three matrices, you would expect that a fantastic film would come forth out the these fine talents and persons. Unfortunately, this is not the case with the Da Vinci Code, and I can say these educatedly as I just returned from the theater. First of all, I am a pastor at a church. I have my beliefs, and I stick to them, others have theirs, and they stick to them. I respect that. I did not go to watch this movie to try to make Dan Brown or Ron Howard out as Satanist who are out to disprove the Bible, I just wanted to see an interesting movie. So, let's accentuate the positive: The cinematography is beautiful. Paris in the evening never looked so good, nor have the outskirts of London. The story line is very thought provoking, and your mind is alert throughout the entire film, you are always wondering what will happen next, and you are constantly trying to anticipate the next part of the "code". That's all for the good. Seriously. Now for the rest.... All of the persons in this film are fine actors, however the writing does not do ANY of them justice, they are constantly over-explaining details that the viewer could easily infer, thus making it more interesting. The dialog is chock full of these over-explanatory terms, so that you almost wish that someone would shut-up and let a moment pass. This is not a spoiler, but the entire crux of the film is laid out in a single moment that happens far too quick, the viewer is left with no imagination. Tom Hanks' dialog is almost wooden and emotionless, it is almost as if Mr. Spock has become Robert Langdon, everything is "logical", and he logically proceeds through every step of the movie. I LOVE Sir Ian Mckellen, he is a FINE actor, however, he too falls into the jabber of over-explanatory dialog, and muddles his natural acting ability. Suffice to say, however, he is the shining moment of acting in this film. The screenplay of this film is VERY poor. Too many impossible, implausible, and inconceivable things take place too fast, and the characters figure things out too quick for it to work. Had this been "The Never-Ending Story" it would be acceptable, but shot as it is, in the present-day, it simply does not work well. And my final comment, the make-up and hair in this movie are completely unnatural. Again, no spoiler, but after a vigorous chase scene, Audrey Tautou and Tom Hanks' hair and makeup are absolutely infallible, Ms. Tautou looks as though she just applied lipstick whilst running for her life. All in all, this movie is, as the other comments have said, a major disappointment. I believe that there is so much story and information in the novel, that the director, writers, etc. tried to cram it all into a 2.5 hour movie, and unfortunately failed. I think had this been a longer movie, with more time to let things evolve, I would have been more satisfied (I hope). Again, this is my opinion, and offered here for your review, I hope you find it beneficial.
will