Not deep, not Good and not the book! ...but it made money

Rating: 3/10 (14 July 2009)

I really enjoyed the book. It was a thundering good read. Okay maybe the story lacked consistency and depth, but that doesn't matter: it did what it was meant to do - it entertained. For all those people who poke fun, pick holes or spend ages listing the errors, I have but one response: you are missing the point - it's fiction.
So as you can see I was hoping for an entertaining and absorbing movie. Alright they were going to have to make the puzzles a little harder. I mean was there anyone who failed to solve the anagrams or mirror writing at first sight? (One criticism of the book that is hard not to concur with) In addition the script writers were going to have to be resourceful, since suspense would be difficult to engender given that the story was so well known and the plot admittedly a tad linear.
Unfortunately the movie missed the mark by a country mile. Where the book was fast paced and enthralling the film was slow and uninvolving. The dialogue was trite and unbelievable and the plot completely mismanaged.
The book certainly simplified the subject matter and adjusted facts to fit the plot, but it never insulted the reader - it assumed a knowing intelligence and a willful suspension of belief. The film however was crass and insulting in its treatment of the audience and the way it negligently failed to even bother to try and paper over the cracks and, indeed, chasms in what plot it allowed was extraordinary.
As far as I can see there was but one single intent in making this movie - to make money!