brainwagon

For the most part, the critics have been really panning The Da Vinci Code, the movie adaptation of Dan Brown’s hugely popular book of the same title. Starring Tom Hanks, Audrey Tatou and Ian McKellan, it is the story of Robert Langton, a historian specializing in the meaning of ancient symbols, who is called to Louvre in Paris late at night to the scene of a bizarre murder, a murder which the French police believe he committed. On the slim chance you don’t know more of the plot and wouldn’t like it spoiled, I’ll stop here to avoid spoilers.

First of all, let me say that I didn’t much care for the book. It wasn’t a complete waste: the broad strokes of the story are interesting, but I found it to be somewhat amateurishly executed. The characters are rather shallow. Robert Langton serves two purposes: to advance the plot by telling you the historical backstory, and to serve as the predictable, stolid protector of Sophie Neveau. Neveau is supposedly a cryptologist, but really her primary purpose seems to be teary eyed and reflective at alternate moments. And for god sakes, we have an albino monk who kills people. Why not just have midget assassins? Or bald Russians with dueling scars? Or girls in gogo boots?

So why would I go see this movie? Simple: it was screened at work for us. 🙂

And overall, I found it to be, well, better than I expected. They rounded off some of the roughest character development problems from the book, expanded some plotlines a bit, contracted others, but left the broad strokes of the story intact: in other words, they did a good screen adaptation. And while I didn’t think it was the most powerful or interesting movie I’d ever seen, I did not feel like laughing at inappropriate moments as some audiences at Cannes apparently did. Overall, I’d give it an 8 out of 10, a good solid B grade, worthy of your movie-going dollar, particularly if you are interested in this kind of thing.

[tags]Movie Review,The Da Vinci Code[/tags]