Sadly, this isn't the case with The Da Vinci Code. Speaking as one of the very few people left in the world who hasn't read the bestseller which the movie is based on, I must say I was terribly disappointed. I expected a fast-paced, intelligent-seeming-while-not-actually-being-intelligent movie but what I got was mostly an exercise in tedium.
I was bored throughout the movie, with the notable exception of the scenes featuring Sir Ian McKellen's character- the delightfully named British Aristocrat, Sir Leigh Teabing. Sir McKellen chews up the scenery with gusto and turns in a wonderfully over-the-top performance that miraculously makes the movie watchable for as long as he's on the screen. As far as I'm concerned, this movie could've been called "The Madcap Adventures of Sir Teabing- bookended by some boring scenes with other people."
The worst offender amongst said "other people" is Tom Hanks, who, with his incredibly silly hairstyle, looks for all the world like he walked onto the set by mistake.The poor man really seems like he has no idea what he's supposed to be doing (which is perhaps understandable- his character seems to be completely unneeded in the movie). Co-star Audrey Tautou does a serviceable job, given that her role mostly consists of running a lot, having flashbacks and looking surprised the rest of the time.
The bad guys are a little bit more interesting- Paul Bettany's murderous, self-flagellating albino monk Silas could have walked out of a '70s action movie and Jean Reno is his usual cool self as a tenacious yet misguided cop. Alas, neither of them gets enough screentime to save the movie.
Most of the blame for what the movie's mediocrity has to go to scriptwriter Akiva Goldsman (a truly overrated hack- sure he wrote A Beautiful Mind but he also wrote the wretched Batman & Robin screenplay and turned I, Robot into a dull action movie) and director Ron Howard, who like Hanks, is out of his element here. In the hands of a different director, The Da Vinci Code could probably have been a rip-roaring adventure. As it is, it's unlikely to excite anyone but overly-sensitive religious folk.
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