Oh dear.

Rating: 4/10 (18 May 2006)

I entered the theatre excited about this film. Having read the book 3 times, it was a film I genuinely kept track of, and one I've been wanting to see for a while.
I left, however, with a big hole of doubt over whether the film can be called 'good'. It seemed that with the hype, the quality of the content of the book and no doubt the budget Howard had, he's simply buckled under the pressure, blown it.
He frankly could not have put a higher quality cast of actors together. Hanks and McKellen both have fantastic CV's and top films under their belts, but the former certainly for me failed to spark at all. McKellen DID however, produce some good moments, and steals the show in the scenes that he appears in.
I felt shocked that the chance to produce ONE of THE best movies of all time has been blown apart. Part of the problem is how to merge the book onto the screen. When hiding someones identity it becomes difficult on screen, without mentioning the location of something , the book merely says 'he mutters the location', we know it's been said but don't know the actual location. In the film, you cannot hear it be said and it creates problems.
Even though the film was 2 and a half hours long , I felt so much was left out. I was waiting to lean forward and snatch the excitement from the screen, boy, what a let down.
Having Hanks as Langdon was a stroke of genius, had the film worked, I couldn't have thought of anyone who would have been better, alas, it appears he's been wasted.
Only having one Cryptix was baffling when book readers know there are two, even approaching Langdon by the French authorities changed from a midnight hotel room approach to a book signing session. I'm not entirely sure why the latter was needed, as it didn't offer anything else.
The flashbacks in the movie were poor to say the least, not everything was explained, and it had to be spelt out for us in bold letters by the characters eventually telling us what happened. Whilst I'd read the book and knew Langdon was scared of enclosed spaces, if someone could not figure this out, they'd have to wait over 2 hours thinking 'Why did that guy ask for the stairs? A health freak?!'.
Some of the stuff cut out can be excused, others cannot. An entire chapter of the two lead characters buying of tickets and faking a cab was cut, and the explanation of the park with the prostitutes was also left out. More mind numbing though, the three or so chapters in the book dedicated to them figuring out that 'the pope' was not correct and that it was Alexander Pope they were after was figured out in 15 seconds on the screen.
Other ridiculous holes show that Teabling is the 'teacher' 15 minutes before it should have and is in the book, and the characters breeze up to Newton's tomb, completely eradicating the tension in the book of 'will they wont they.' Other basic mistakes include the butler confusingly jumping in too soon at the Knights Templar church and not explaining how the gun was smuggled in.
For all the slaughtering I've given the film, my 2 friends who had not read the book thoroughly enjoyed it no end.
Some parts where good, Silas was freaky(although I thought albinos where suppose to be red eyed, not very light blue?), but yet again his character wasn't fully explained.
The fantastic parts where the 'rollover flashbacks', London suddenly became 15th century in some parts, and Newton's tomb flashes before Langdon's eyes in stunning CGI format.
I felt the end was also a plus, with Hanks revealing the CGI location of the pyramids whilst speaking the words.
Maybe 4/10 is me being harsh, but as a huge fan of the book , I just felt the opportunity to produce something absolutely stunning was not achieved.