Interesting But Self-Important And Unsatisfying Religious Conspiracy Thriller

Rating: 5/10 (16 May 2009)

Robert Langdon is a visiting professor in Paris who is suddenly accused of the violent murder of a curator at The Louvre. He is rescued by a young woman, Sophie, who has a hidden connection to the case. The two go on the run from the authorities and are drawn into a shadowy world of murder, conspiracy and religious distortion
It's best to reveal prejudices first. I think the plot of this movie, from Dan Brown's 2003 bestseller, is pretty lame at best, and pilfered at worst. The concept of a female Last Scion descendant of Christ comes from Kevin Smith's film Dogma. The idea of Christ marrying Mary Magdalene comes from Nikos Kazantzakis' novel The Last Temptation Of Christ. The notion that the Knights Templars hid the Holy Grail in Rosslyn Chapel comes from a non-fiction book, The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail. The closest the story gets to a cinematic idea is that John the Apostle in Leonardo Da Vinci's 1497 painting The Last Supper is really Magdalene, but even that comes from yet another book, The Templar Revelation. So in terms of originality, it's right up there with Not Another Teen Movie. I haven't read the book, so maybe it works better in print, but on film it has lots of boring, talky, confusing scenes where characters argue about theological conspiracy. A woman's figure or a desert sunset may be clichéd images, but I'd much rather look at them any day of the week. There are good points though - by far the most interesting character is Silas, the self-flagellating reformed albino monk assassin, nicely played with a zealot's fervour by Bettany (check him out in Gangster No. 1), and stalwarts Reno, Molina and Prochnow pep things up a little, albeit with rather threadbare characters. McKellan strains credibility however, and edges dangerously close to camp. Crucially, there is a tremendous low-key string score by the always-reliable Hans Zimmer which lifts the whole film up, adding suspense, menace and pathos where there wasn't much to begin with. Without the music this would be an stultifying experience. Like most of Howard's films, it's too long, the action is weak, there's too much dialogue and the style is flat. There are better movies on similar subjects - John Carpenter's Prince Of Darkness or Gregory Widen's The Prophecy to name a couple. Worth a watch, but afterwards, check out Dogma as an alternative - it has just as many religious twists, but is very funny, has lots of action, terrific characters and is a total original, all lessons this movie could do well to learn.