A Decent Flick!

Rating: 8/10 (20 September 2008)

When a movie is made from a novel, there is always an uncertainty involved as to how it will be received by the audience and the critics. Some of the movies like The Godfather have been successful in creating master pieces by drawing inspiration from master pieces. But there is always a problem with movies derived from popular novels. There is something missing in the novels that movies can provide. It is pictures! There are no pictures in novels as a result of which you tend to form your own images of the places and the characters when you read through a novel. Now, should a movie be made based on the novel, you tend to have some amount of prejudice in the sense that you are searching for the precise same images you had created for yourself when you read the novel. Many a times, movies flop simply because the director's vision of the story and the happenings does not seem to match or resonate with the opinions of most readers. I believe that the Da Vinci Code can be placed in this category.
The Da Vinci Code was a novel written by Dan Brown. Dan Brown, of course, cannot be considered an incredible author but he had done a decent job with it. Of course, the plot can be questioned in many ways but the way the novel as such had become very popular most people had heard about it and many had read it. And the starting note had made the novel even more popular. The statement made by the author that all the descriptions of the customs, rituals and artwork are real caused many people to be convinced by the conclusions drawn by the characters are true and the popularity of novel spread far and wide.
Dan Brown definitely did not build the characters in extreme detail. For example, when Al Pacino had read The Godfather, he knew what he was suppose to do when he'd play Michael Corleone. But my personal opinion about the character of Robert Langdon is that different people will visualize him differently when reading the novel and hence many might not like the role of Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon. Add to this the incredible reputation of Tom Hanks for having portrayed extremely complex characters before and you get a collection of negative comments on Tom Hanks' role. I think Tom Hanks has done a decent job with the role. It might not be a Forrest Gump or a Castaway kind of a role but nonetheless it was a decent act.
There are two ways of looking at this movie. One is with prejudice formed based on your version of novel. And other is that of a viewer who has not read the novel at all. Those of you who have read the novel and disliked, you really should not be bothered about the movie at all. Those you who read the novel might not like it unless you are able to reset your mind and see the movie from an independent perspective. And those of you who have not read the novel, there is a good chance that you might enjoy it.
The Da Vinci code does not deserve any exceptional place in the history of movies as a critically acclaimed movie. But it still remains a well done movie. The screenplay is fast paced and the characters are quite good. Tom Hanks is a good Robert Langdon, so are all other actors good in their own places. Sometimes the movie can get monotonic with the chase sequences but overall, it is a decent movie. Ron Howard's work as a director may not be his best but is overall decent.
This movie is worth watching for both people who have read the novel and who have not read the novel. For those of you have read the novel, my sincere advice would be to try and look at the movie unbiased and unprejudiced. Kudos!