Who would have thought-a mystery thriller about historical religion!

Rating: 10/10 (19 May 2006)

I just left this wonderful film and want to put my unadulterated thoughts on paper-having purposely not read any viewer comments on IMDb. I probably am one of the few in the western world who have not read The Da Vinci Code so I am writing purely about the film I just watched. Earlier in the week I saw another superb movie, The World's Fastest Indian and it too was brilliant but for enormously different reasons-it was kinda like comparing Titian to Picasso-both brilliant painters but having little in common other than the paint on the canvas.
Ron Howard directed a superlative action movie: fast paced, doors that open onto unexpected tangents with unexpected characters, historical depth and unusual motivations. In short, I found the movie a first rate thriller with huge depth and wonderful acting. Ron Howard brought out the best in Hanks, Tautou and especially Ian McKeller. I enjoy visual movies greatly and I thought that Howard used the camera to its very best. There was much camera movement and interesting useful flashbacks at points needing further elaboration.
The visual beauty of the film was enhanced by Salvatore Tortino's beautiful camera work as cinematographer. For some reason, on this film, I noticed the blurred backgrounds of the many closeups called for by Howard-really startlingly beautiful closeups of big shots of people.
Religious extremists will be outraged by the underlying philosophy of this movie but that philosophy plays a small part in the movie. From an anti-religion person like myself, The Da Vinci Code was an excellent mystery/thriller made wonderfully delicious by its subject matter-a two thousand year old mystery.
Now I will read the novel and then go to the movie at least one more time. I have been a critic of American movies in the past, and from today's previews before The ...Code I will remain so, but this film is the exception that proves the rule. Watching, The ...Code was a great experience and I recommend it to everyone except religious extremists.
This morning I sat through The Code again and enjoyed it far more than I did the first time two weeks ago. I enjoyed: Howard's direction even more; I thought his camera angles and shot selection perfectly suited the film; I enjoyed the acting more than at my first screening; I was very impressed with the editing and was most impressed by the script writing after having read the book in the intervening weeks.
All concerned should be extremely proud of their efforts!