hmmmmm...

Rating: 6/10 (9 July 2006)

Whenever you have a book where most of the action and suspense is the characters thinking through things and placing thoughts together, a big giant gorilla should jump out of a bush with a sign saying "this will stay better as a book". Then the Ape of Literary Adaptions, as he is so called by his fellow primate friends, will disappear and make sure another wildly successful novel doesn't turn into a bad movie.
This movie had so much going for it that one might have considered the overwhelming obstacles of a literay adaption such as this trivial. Director: Ron Howard. Writer: same as Beautiful Mind. Cast: Tom Hanks, Ian McKellen, Paul Bettany, Alfred Molina. AND its based on a great book written by Dan Brown. Alas, the movie just does not and really cannot live up to its literary ancestor.
The excitement in the novel The Da Vinci Code lied not in intricate car chases, rousing fight sequences, or stupeyfingly impossible stuntwork, it lied in the mind. Puzzling pieces of information and history together to come to a satisfying conclusion was the power behind the novel. Well, all that putting together pieces business comes from the head, unless the characters think out loud, which is pretty much all they did in this movie. It turns out to be quite boring. Tom Hanks himself looks pretty bored with it. I could have sworn I heard him whisper "someone give me a flippin volleyball. We'll claim it has something to do with the sacred feminine."
Honestly, the only thing keeping me interesting was the cast. They're all good actors. Ian Mckellen was good as always. Paul Bettany should have been given more to do. Audrey Tautou is hot. I couldn't understand a word she said, but she kept me interested just the same.
Do yourself a favor. Read the book. Don't watch this boring movie.