Poorly made

Rating: 3/10 (29 May 2006)

Like any book turned movie, the book is usually better. In this case the book is drastically better. I wish I did not see the movie, it does not provide justice to an amazing book. The book contained elaborate puzzles, great characters, and easy to follow transitions between scenes.
First the puzzles. The movie ignores one puzzle altogether, SOPHA. It seems the director/producer had a choice to make: either add suspense through action or keep the suspense from the puzzles. Unfortunately, they elected the Hollywood approach by adding extra pointless scenes. After reading the book I was expecting the movie to be constructed similarly to The Usual Suspect, but sadly the movie was more like The Game or even The Borne Identity.
The movie is jumpy at times, they do a poor job of informing the watcher what is happening in the scene. Even when they have added in the appropriate information it was usually after the long after the scene ended. The movie inadequately explained Sophia's history with her grandfather, including the sacred ritual she saw him conduct. If you did not read the book first, the movie watcher had to be scratching their head.
The last major problem I had was with the characters. First Silas and Teabing were amazing, very similar to their characters in the book. The movie did a poor job of explaining Silas's past, but nevertheless both the characters and actors (Bethany and McKellan) were extraordinary. Sophia's character in the book was very intelligent, clever, and useful. The movie did not display any of these features. Instead she is viewed as a tough cop, and defers to Langdon during most of the search. They carefully cutout and edited the scenes that showed her true characteristics (The Grand Gallery and The Bank Vault). It is unfortunate.
Lastly there is Robert Langdon, the movie Langdon is not the real Langdon. Langdon appears ignorant at points in the movie, but others times quick and cunning. He solves the puzzle on the plane in a matter of seconds (but in the book takes much longer and needs the help of both Teabing and Sophia, and actually does not solve the puzzle himself). I won't even begin on the ending scenes with the Star of David, Langdon never solved that puzzle.
The biggest problem was the changed Langdon's view of the Holy Grail. He spent his entire life researching symbols and strongly believed in the story told by Teabing. The movie, maybe to the pressure of the church, decided to make him more a skeptic.
When the movie was complete I thought to myself, wow the movie critics were correct on this one. After I watched the movie I had to go back and reread the book. I suggest everyone do the same.