Everyone's a critic...a fine film that hits the mark

Rating: 6/10 (20 May 2006)

Adapting a successful novel is a difficult task that greater directors than Ron Howard have failed. The screenplay for "The Davinci Code," is a high achievement. Little is kept out of the film and that which is changed ensures the books themes and pacing are true. The use of flashbacks to give some of the novel's depth to certain situations (especially including Sophie's upbringing) were perfectly placed and well paced). Howard's use of visual effects to help the reader through a scene--first used in "A Beautiful Mind,"--were valuable to the pacing of the film.
The casting is also spot on. Tom Hanks is being unnecessarily trashed for his portrayal of what is, by my account, one of the most poorly developed characters from a best-selling novel in decades. And I read a lot of novels. Dan Brown uses Langdon in "Code" for the second time, and thus, dispenses with some element of character development. Upon reading the novel I believed Langdon to be a very dull, essentially empty character. I thought only Tom Hanks or Kevin Spacey could fill the role of a peaceful academic caught up in an out of control situation without resorting to stuffed shirt foolishness. (Russel Crowe as Langdon would have been idiocy...I would NOT have seen that film.) Hanks appears to do an apt job of stuffing Langdon's turtleneck and getting out of the way of the story...which is this film's real selling point. Audrey Tautou made herself future millions, Jean Reno is great as Fache, Molina is very strong as the bishop, Bettany is adequate as Silas, and McKellan is a scene stealer as Teabing.
I've wasted a lot of units of $9.50 at films in my life, this was not one of those films.