The Da Vinci Code

When you sit down and read a good thriller novel, you know you're on to something good when you just can't stop turning the pages.  That's how I felt when I read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code when it was published in 2003.  And I thought to myself, "wow, this is going to be a great movie!"

Well, on second thought, I don't know if it would have been possible to make a great movie from this book, and still satisfy the fans of the novel.  But to its credit, the film adaptation is indeed very true to the book, and I suppose that is ultimately its trouble.

Don't get the wrong idea; I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.  But sometimes in being faithful to a book, a movie can become, well, less than cinematic, and unfortunately, I think that is this film's trouble.  There are plenty of thrills and some nice actions bits, but just like the book, the movie pauses every so often to explain things at length, and to recap what's going on with the plot.  And in doing so, the plot itself simply grinds to a halt momentarily.  Just like the book, though, you know the plot is going to pick up again with a vengeance--and it does--but those "explainer" scenes sure can seem like a drag when you're waiting for the chase to resume.

The actors seem just a little too comfortable, given, as the movie says, that they suddenly find themselves in the midst of a centuries-old war centered on the very essence of Christianity and the Catholic Church itself. Tom Hanks looked like he was playing, well, Tom Hanks.  As Robert Langdon, Hanks may as well have been having a conversation with an old friend on the back porch of his summer place rather than being chased around Europe as a man wanted for murder.

There is bit early in the movie, when we meet Langdon for the first time, as he is giving a lecture in Paris on "symbology". When someone in the audience says a slide he is showing looks like the devil's pitchfork, Langdon simply says, "Poor Poseidon" (who's trident was corrupted into the devil's pitchfork). And I couldn't help but think that it was a rather prescient jab on the part of the filmmakers at one of their summer rivals, Wolfgang Petersen's "Poseidon". At least these guys know how to have a little fun with their movie.

On the whole, though, this movie was a lot of fun, and as long as you don't take things too seriously, it's a fun little jaunt.  Just be prepared to pay attention to a lot of detailed plots explanations along the way.