Trashy Book, Trashy Film

Rating: 2/10 (12 March 2007)

Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code, was a blast to read. And I remember to this day that a major motion picture was written all over it. Unfortunately, the film isn't as good as many expected it to be. With a terrible script, bad acting, and wrong interpretation of the book, "The Da Vinci Code" is a dreary and cheap piece of entertainment. Ron Howard's interpretation of the book is terrible. And like all book adapted scripts, the dialouge is a mess. To their credit the director and his screenwriter, Akiva Goldsman (who collaborated with Mr. Howard on "Cinderella Man" and "A Beautiful Mind"), have streamlined Mr. Brown's story and refrained from trying to capture his, um, prose style. "Almost inconceivably, the gun into which she was now staring was clutched in the pale hand of an enormous albino with long white hair." Such language  note the exquisite "almost" and the fastidious tucking of the "which" after the preposition  can live only on the page.
For those who read the book, I will keep it short by saying that it has some mistaken parts to it, and perhaps is not at all what the readers want to see. Tom Hanks is useless as Robert Langdon, a cryptologist who discovers a deadly secret, and is being framed for murder. Tom Hanks is a slick haired Smarty that acts very bad in this one. Why? Oh, well it seems that Mr. Hanks tone is dry and apparently has no expression on his face. Compare this this to "Forest Gump". Perhaps the highlight of "The Da Vinci Code" is the acting of Ian McKellen, who is Leigh Teabing, a complete backstabber with a moronic attitude. Again, a better film is needed.
And so, The anticipated "Da Vinci Code" came crashing down like I didn't expect it to. And you have to ask yourself: Why do they make the movies in the trailers so good?