Not bad - but not outstanding

Rating: 6/10 (21 May 2006)

After hearing some bad reviews, I was sceptical about this movie. However, I was surprised - but only because my expectations were low.
First of all, I really was not particularly impressed with the book. All comments about the plot aside, I simply found that Dan Brown wrote like an accountant - it opened well, but degenerated quickly into very bland prose. The direction took a similar turn. It opened rather well, but I found that towards the end, I felt entirely bored with it. I expected something with a greater climax - it didn't seem to go anywhere. Visually it is very stunning - but whilst the direction is competent, it is quite bland. The historical sequences don't add much to the plot, and all it does it break up the endless talking.
Secondly, some of the casting was very good. Ian McKellen was very good as Leigh Teabing, and got a few laughs, although, I must admit that the casting of Paul Bettany was completely inspired. He really was very good as Silas, and his final scene was really compelling. Alfred Molina's role was smaller, but he did a good job with it. However, I felt that Jean Reno was not a strong enough villain. I was expecting a much more powerful villain - although he did impress me in one of his later scenes. Tom Hanks I found also was a bit lacklustre - his character didn't seem to do anything other than run around a lot and crack all the codes inordinately quickly. Audrey Tautou was very gorgeous, but despite the fact that she was meant to be the cryptographer, she didn't seem to have much of a role in the actual detective work; she just stood there and looked astonished.
Whilst the Da Vinci Code just about works on paper, the major difference between the book and the film is that you can't pad the film out with pages of description. Everything had to be explained through talking, which meant that the whole film boiled down to two hours of wooden dialogue. The Latin and French conversations seemed to be thrown in simply to make the viewer watch the screen.
Whilst this film is definitely worth seeing, don't go in with high expectations, and you might just be surprised.