Still don't know what to think

Rating: 7/10 (21 May 2006)

Like the majority of the world, I read the book, and loved it. The beauty of the book was contained in the shock of discovering things as Langdon did. Heading into the movie, I knew all of these things and knew all the secrets of The Da Vinci code. For example, I knew Teabing was the teacher and I knew that Sophie was the blood line of Christ and all that. It's impossible for me to review a suspense story such as this because the shocking revelations that occurred in the book simply weren't shocking in the film.
That being said, I also don't think some things were presented to be as shocking as they were in the book. Especially the opening sequence in the Louvre. When Langdon cracks the codes in the beginning of the book, it is one of the most exciting points of the story. However the movie takes a while to get into its stride, a Ron Howard trait. Once it gets going, it is a decent film, nothing remarkable, but not terrible.
The casting was okay. Jean Reno, Paul Bettany, Ian McKellan, and Audrey Tattou are great in their roles. And Tom Hanks is great too, I mean he's Tom Hanks, he's never bad. I just didn't like the choice of him for Langdon when I heard it, and Hanks simply isn't what I feel that most people had in mind when they pictured the professor in their head. This is obviously opinion, but with such a STORY-based film, it seems to help when there are no huge name actors involved (Star Wars is prime example) and having perhaps the biggest actor in Hollywood in this film brings the viewer away from the story somewhat.
And finally, it is sadly a Ron Howard film. He's not really great at suspense. Good director, works well with high priced actors and big budgets, I guess that's why he was chosen, but I would have liked to see a director with a talent for suspense and darkness take this on, it would have made it much more enjoyable.