A disappointing rather slow paced movie

Rating: 5/10 (23 May 2006)

Having, no doubt like many of you who have read the book, I was captivated from the first few pages. This interesting, fast paced, historical thriller blew me away like no books before could.
Mixing art, secret societies, historical and political intrigue with conspiracies of huge proportions this had everything you could want to activate your imagination.
So when I heard about the movie I was rather apprehensive as to weather this could live up to high standards and huge amount of hype which had slowly been gathering pace.
And, like I feared from the mauling this film took from all corners of the media, I too was left very , very disappointed.
Given the Director Ron Howard and his high standards of past film making, and some of the big names which were enlisted I just did not see how this could fail to hit the mark, but fail it did!
Unfortunately, due to a flat script, plot cramming and rather one paced direction this film never seems to get out of first gear. Add in the mix some very poor acting from Audrey Tautou, Jean Reno and yes, you better believe it, the great Tom Hanks, this film turns into a huge failure.
Tom hanks, who I admire greatly and is one of the finest actors around, just bumbles from scene to scene with what looks like road kill stuck to his head, but even his sub par performance is outdone by lame Audrey Tautou.
Her acting is comparable to a drama student who has taken a role which is beyond her capability and just never convinces you she is the character she plays.
I just cant help but feel this film would have been better using less well known actors, ones who would have reveled in such interesting characters and story lines. But instead run of the mill performances from past greats just don't intrigue or delight.
It's not all bad though. There are some excellent standout performances from Sir Ian McKellen as the rather eccentric English millionaire Sir Leigh Teabing and the very impressive Paul Bettany as the albino monk Silas.
Utimately though these small redeeming qualities are not enough to rescue a misguided, boring and flat film which if you must see, wait for DVD release. At least this way you have the option of stopping it and swapping it for better movie.