so disappointing...

Rating: 3/10 (11 July 2006)

With this film Ron Howard has achieved the impossible. He has taken the ultimate cinematic novel, a pulpy treasure hunt that ends every chapter on a cliffhanger; a book that with its shoddy writing and one-dimensional characters reads like a movie, exciting, fast-paced and gripping and turned it into one of the most boring films i have seen.
Its padded out with endless exposition but no development, fine actors like Hanks and Reno just stand around looking puzzled without giving us any insight into their characters. Silas, the best character in the film, is the most interesting character but he is pretty much sidelined throughout. Even Ian McKellan seems hammy as historian Leigh Teabing, less David Starkey and more Christopher Biggins.
Another problem is that while the book can bombard us with facts and make a relatively convincing conspiracy theory, on a widescreen coupled with dumbed down dialogue, the historical, theological and scientific fallacies in the argument become painfully apparent, and without this strong narrative link between actions and locations, the film feels episodic and repetitive.
It would probably be a better idea just to read the book, which is an exciting pulp fiction page turner, than watch this tedious nonsense which plays out as across between a coach tour of Europe and a KS3 history lesson. In the search for the holy grail, Indiana Jones is miles ahead.
2.5/5