interesting, but overwhelming

Rating: 6/10 (29 January 2007)

"The Da Vinci Code" is the most over hyped/disappointing movie, next to "X-Men: The Last Stand," of 2006. That does not mean it is a bad movie, or horrible movie. Unfortunately, it also does not mean it is a good movie. It is just an okay movie. It is worth to watch but you should not expect much from it.
"The Da Vinci Code" is a movie based on the popular novel by Dan Brown. Robert Langdon is in Paris on business when he is summoned to The Louvre. A dead body has been found. Suddenly Langdon, with the help of a Cryptologist and a British Royal Historian, sets off on an adventure to unravel an ancient secret that has been hidden for over two thousand years. Can he decipher that code, well you will just have to read the book or watch the movie to find out.
The main flaw of this movie is the pacing. It is a very slow-paced movie. It was very hard to sit through the 2 hours and 29 minutes runtime. There is an extended cut, not out in the United States, which is 2 hours and 54 minutes long, which would have been even harder to get through. It is so dialog driven that the movie turned from what could have been an interesting mystery thriller to an extended history class you are forced to be a part of. This reviewer had not read the book, so it all felt a little overwhelming.
The saving point of this movie, or at least what made this from getting a lower review, is the acting. As mentioned in the last paragraph, this reviewer had not read the book, so there will not be any comparisons to the characters in the book. Of course, Tom Hanks is always professional, and it is the same with his portrayal of Robert Langdon. Audrey Tautou, while her French accent was very difficult to understand, was good as Sophie Neveau. Ian McKellen was great as Sir Leigh Teabing. Jean Reno was in there too as Captain Bezu Fache. Paul Bettany stole the show as the murderous albino monk, Silas. Alfred Molina as the Bishop, Manuel Aringarosa was also good.
Unfortunately, while there were some good thrilling parts, the information was just too much and it was overwhelming. At least with a book like this, you can pause, write notes, and eventually stop when it gets to be overwhelming. The movie is not as bad as some people has made them out to be, Ron Howard does not even deserve a Razzie for the direction of "The Da Vinci Code," but it was not outstanding either. One thing "The Da Vinci Code" movie does well is makes you, and mainly the people who did not read the book, want to read the novel. Unfortunately, "The Da Vinci Code" is only recommended to those who have read the book!