I was expecting more

Rating: 6/10 (18 May 2006)

I am still thinking about this movie. I truly believe that Ron Howard tried his best to stick to Dan Brown's story, but this cut out his own creativity. Let's start with the acting. Tom Hanks does a decent job (it goes better as the story develops), but he did not have a good partner: in my humble opinion, Audrey Tautou did not do a good job at all. She said in a interview that she was not too excited about the movie when her name appeared on the list of likely actresses to perform Sophie. Well, you can see that in the film. She looks out the picture, saying his words without conviction and with a thick French accent that makes her hard to understand sometimes. She had already done DIRTY PRETTY THINGS (Stephen Frears' film, in English) with good results. The kind of production that DAVINCI was deserved a better training in her English skills, I believe. Maybe Ron Howard is not that good at directing actors, it is the only explanation I can think of, regarding the couple Hanks-Tautou. Tom Hanks tries to do his best. Ian McKellen, wonderful as sir Leigh Teabing. Impressive, Paul Bettany as Silas. Jean Reno is OK, quite natural as a tough French police officer. I loved the flashbacks in the movie. They are definitely an added value. I imagine that Mr. Howard did not have too much freedom to create something of his own based on Dan Brown's book. On one hand, he might have risked of disappointing fans, but also it is true that all the elements (riddles, phrases, signs, symbols, etc.) are intrinsically and intimately related that it would have been a huge mistake to scramble the whole just to change a few details in order to be "original". The suspense is good (I had read the book) and you are caught by the intrigue of the story. Anyway, I prefer a literal adaptation to the screen that the disaster that was THE NAME OF THE ROSE. At the end, I imagine that the tissue relating all characters become a little bit confusing for those who have not read the book. I give the film 6 out 10. I also was expecting more. Perhaps a more aggressive direction and going beyond Dan Brown's lines: what about (a scene that I imagined when I read the book) Jesus putting his hand on Marie Magdalene's womb during the Last Supper and saying: "This is my body... This is my blood..."?