Don't get me wrong! I liked the movie, but...

Rating: 7/10 (22 June 2006)

Okay, here's my beef with the book: Dan Brown is not a sophisticated writer. He gives you everything and leaves no clues. Every chapter ends in a bad cliffhanger. He absolutely cannot write romance. But the story? Fantastic. It's a great work of fiction. The only thing wrong with it is the author (which might generally be considered bad, but trust me on this one).
Now, that being said, the movie is fairly good. The direction, the cinematography, the acting... even Tom Hanks pulled off Robert Langdon, which I really did not think he could do well. Paul Bettany was fantastic, as usual. His heartfelt portrayal of Silas made me learn to love the character despite everything, which Dan Brown did not do successfully in the novel. Jean Reno was great as Fache. Ian McKellan made me believe every word he said, even when I knew what was going to happen.
Ron Howard's direction was absolutely marvelous. Everything flowed beautifully. It's definitely worth a viewing just to see how gorgeous it is.
I have problems with the book, but why didn't I give the movie a 10-star rating? Well, you can't really do much with a badly-written novel, can you? Akiva Goldsman certainly couldn't -- the screenplay is awful. Don't go in expecting A Beautiful Mind or LA Confidential. Go in expecting to see exactly what you read: pretty and exciting, but written for the layman.