Promising material interpreted with no passion

Rating: 5/10 (13 November 2006)

Notoriously controversial adaptation of the best selling novel dealing with secret historical codes, evil priests, and pursuit of the holy grail fizzled out as soon as it premiered last year in the theaters for many reasons. While I applaud the producers for taking popcorn entertainment down an unusual route, Ron Howard and constant collaborator Akiva Goldsman just miss the mark in too many ways to effectively put across a film of this magnitude with their immature adaptation. Let us not criticize the movie more then it should be however; the insane amount of pre-release hype and controversy coupled with the subsequent and immediate, intense letdown upon arrival surely embittered and affected many of our more cynical viewers upon rating the movie. The Da Vinci code is a refreshing pop movie, with some historical heft thrown in for fan appeasement. This material could have been interpreted in so many different ways, from dumbed down adventure fare, to stodgy intellectualism mired by historic observation. The team behind the movie adaptation do succeed at combining these two traits into something that is more accessible to the most amount of potential viewers, leaving fans of Indiana Jones type exploration or history buffs alike open for a relationship, it is just that they explore both of these avenues in very shallow, yet awkwardly scripted ways. Fans of the book already have much working against their favor with Hanks being a major miscast and the general dumbing down that comes along with adapting for Hollywood. However, viewers who didn't get on that gigantic trend that was the book a few years ago, and leave their willingness to criticize and take seriously at home (in another words, normal folk who go to the movies to be entertained, not snobs like us), will find themselves at the least mildly entertained and hopefully even a little more intrigued at this glossed over, but still, age old mystery.