Does not stand alone from book

Rating: 6/10 (21 May 2006)

Having been amongst the many who had read and loved The Da Vinci Code, I wasn't sure what to expect from the movie. I had heard the stories about people walking out but I wanted to see for myself if it was really that awful. The answer is, in short, it is not that bad. If you expect it to live up to the hype and the precedent set by the book, you will be disappointed. If you go in with minimal expectations expecting a typical Hollywood thriller, you will probably enjoy yourself. Readers of the book will really notice how much is missed out in the film. This may be simply due to the restrictions of the medium, as the pages of explanation of different symbols, ideas and theories are probably not easily adapted to the screen. This makes the storyline lack depth and appear superficial. The movie does not stand alone well and will be enjoyed the most by those who have knowledge of the background detail supplied by the book. Cinematically, it is enjoyable as the shots are beautiful but there is a lot of superimposing of images that are supposed to represent Langdon's thought processes as he solves puzzles which just get annoying and serve only to demonstrate the very large budget the film obviously had.
Tom Hanks does better than expected, but he lacks the intelligent charisma required by the character of Langdon. Audrey Tautou is sweet and charming as Sophie, but there is no chemistry between her and Hanks' Langdon and their relationship seems more father-daughter than anything else. The strongest performances are by Jean Reno as Captain Fache and Paul Bettany as Silas.