Decent attempt, not as bad as what people are saying

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 2006)

When I first read the Da Vinci code I was overwhelmed and captured by the level of detail that Dan Brown went into about the myth of the Holy Grail and the conspiracies surrounding it, which I think was the key characteristic that allowed this to become one of the best selling books of modern times. Given the audience that Brown has reached with this book, Howard had an almighty task of being able to portray such story in a way that would satisfy all parties.
Personally I think Howard did a good job of being able to summaries a novel that goes into great detail surrounding the main plot and still produce a film that keeps on you the edge of your seat about an idea that has caught the imagination of people of all religions. Howard was able to use an outstanding cast and multiple locations to build the grail story and stick to closely to the story that Dan Brown originally published. The cinematography and music in the movie kept you as gripped to the ever developing story as a first time reader of the book.
Special mention should go to Paul Bettany, who played the dark character of Silas to perfection and added to the intense plot of the story. In addition Hanks, McKellen, Tautou & Reno all put in a masterful performance and contributed significantly to Howards attempt of recapturing the essence of the novel that gripped millions of readers world wide.
Overall I think this was a very well made film, with great directing (as always), a clever & yet simple screenplay of the original novel, clever cinematography and music that allowed the viewer to follow the plot and enormity of the events unfolding in the film. The film is not as good as the book purely as it can't go into as much detail that made the book so good, but it was a very good attempt and rendered very closely to how I would vision the novel as a film. Kept me an enthralled as the book did when I first read it. 8 of 10.