NoFace for Film

Title: The Da Vinci Code
Year: 2006
Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno
Rated: PG-13

NoFace for Film rating: 3.5 out of 7

Based on the highly popular but controversial novel by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code begins with a mysterious death. When Louvre museum curator Jacques Saunière (Jean-Pierre Marielle) is brutally murdered in the museum, visiting professor Dr. Robert Langdon (Hanks) is contacted, supposedly to help the police. However, Agent Sophie Neveu (Tatou), a police cryptologist, warns Langdon that he in fact is the prime suspect in Saunière’s murder. With the Paris police hot on their trails, Robert and Sophie find themselves embroiled in a mystery that involves a thousand-year-old struggle between a secret society and the Roman Catholic Church.

Overall, The Da Vinci Code was entertaining to watch. There’s a few cool car chases, an intriguing (and controversial) storyline, and the audience gets a mini tour of Paris. It’s reminiscent of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in that our heroes go traipsing around looking for and interpreting clues. At a weary two and a half hours, it’s even the same running length. However, The DaVinci Code failed in several areas where The Last Crusade succeeded.

First and foremost were the unbelievably miscasted lead actors. I, like many people, balked when I first heard that Hanks was to play Robert Langdon. Those who have read the book know that Hanks was completely the wrong person to play this role. For many people, Langdon’s description conjured up Harrison Ford in his Indiana Jones heyday — a ruggedly handsome but distinguished, athletic 40-something professor…but instead we got a pale, pudgy Tom Hanks with weird hair. Tautou was very cute and lovely, but totally unbelievable as a police officer or a cryptologist. She just seemed too young and naive to pull it off.

As for the chemistry between the two leads, forget it. Recall that in The Last Crusade, in spite of the small 12-year age difference between Ford and co-star Sean Connery, they were able to make us believe that they are indeed, father and son. Their onscreen banter was hilarious, and their father/son moments (especially when Jones Sr. gets shot) are tender. Contrast this with the leads in The Da Vinci Code. Maybe it was because Tautou looked like a 12-year-old girl next to Hanks, and maybe it was because of the 20-year-age difference between the two actors, but it seemed like they weren’t sure whether or not they should share a romantic relationship, or more of a father/daughter thing. Don’t get me wrong; I can’t stand forced romantic situations in movies, but I wish that Ron Howard would have made up his mind on the relationship between the two characters.

Fortunately, the supporting cast was stronger. Paul Bettany was just the right amount of creepy weirdness as Silas, an albino monk assassin who punishes himself severely after every hit. Jean Reno does a great job playing the gruff and stubborn police Captain Bezu Fache, determined to capture Langdon. Alfred Molina did well in his small role as the shadowy and sinister Bishop Aringarosa. However, it was Ian McKellen who stood out, hamming it up with great glee as the eccentric historian Sir Leigh Teabing.

The Da Vinci Code does well as an adaptation of the novel. Like other books that were made into films, it’s very difficult to stay true to the book but still appease the film crowd. Indeed, a few shortcuts were taken (e.g., one puzzle from the book was not included) and some characters were altered, but overall the story was preserved. Some criticized the large amounts of historical and religious exposition in the film, but unfortunately they were crucial to the plot. At least director Howard didn’t just have his actors just sitting around a table the whole time discussing it. Rather, we get most of the exposition in snazzy PowerPoint-type presentations and cool flashbacks, some of which were so elaborate that I wonder if they cost more to make than the rest of the film!

In general, The Da Vinci Code is not something I’d go out and rent again. If you enjoyed the story, stick with the book, where Tom Hanks and his hair are not Robert Langdon. If you want to watch a fun, action-packed adventure movie where the characters are looking for the Holy Grail, rent Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade instead.

Technorati Tags: The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown, Robert Langdon, Paris, Louvre Museum, Sophie Neveu, Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Indiana Jones, Paul Bettany, Alfred Molina, Ian McKellen, Holy Grail