So boring it's a sin

Rating: 5/10 (1 August 2019)

The book by Dan Brown certainly caused a lot of controversy when it was released, but that only seemed to fuel its massive sales. Finally reading it a few weeks ago (that's me, always a decade or two behind the times), I can certainly understand why it would ruffle cassocks, but it's all so preposterous (though entertainingly so) that in retrospect said controversy was a touch overblown.
The movie more or less stays true to the book, but where the latter moves along at brisk, white knuckle pace, the former is an over-long and talky affair that lacks the tension and stakes to make it grab you.
The very strong cast fail to lift the material and attempts to blunt some of the novel's harsher takes only serve to dilute an already weak cocktail.