THE DA VINCI CODE (PG-13) ***
Directed by Ron Howard. 148 minutes.
Starring Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Paul
Bettany, Alfred Molina, Jean Reno and Jurgen Prochnow. Released by
OK, I think everyone should take a deep breath and… get over it. The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction, but from the way people have been creating a hail storm of controversy with protests by everyone from Catholics in Asia to albinos and critics slamming the movie so hard into the ground as if they were expecting a work of art on the level of Don Quixote and being let down, you’d think that someone had claimed to have found the eleventh commandment and were arguing its validity. Dan Brown’s book, which I have not read, and Ron Howard’s film are merely potboilers – low on character development and high on twists and turns – and not some sort of religious creed, attack on Christianity or aspiring to be works of art like some pretty famous paintings depicted in both the movie and book.
The critical backlash in the past week would make one think they were going to see Battlefield Earth 2, but no, The Da Vinci Code is merely a slightly preposterous, occasionally flawed, but more so than not entertaining mystery, in which the history of Christianity and the Catholic Church are reimagined for the sole purpose of crafting a clever story. Critics have continually ripped Dan Brown’s writing style – again, I can’t attest to this because I have not read the novel, but said very little about the film itself, other than criticizing the performances of the lead actors. What I can say is that Ron Howard directs the film with some zest like you would expect from a big budget, globe-trotting thriller. Much of the film is shot in the dark, lending an eerie quality to it and, I admit, that the film is thrilling in more than a few parts, while the big plot twists late in the film – though I pretty much knew what they were – are clever and would provide a naïve moviegoer not aware of Brown’s juggernaut with an intriguing evening at the movies. Much lesser films have received a free ride compared to the lashing that this film, like Paul Bettany’s character Silas, has taken.
To explain the plot would simply make me too tired. For those not familiar with the story, suffice it to say that Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), a professor who studies symbols (sort of a more intellectual Indiana Jones), gets sucked into a murder mystery that unveils secrets to him that question whether several thousand years of Sunday school were incorrect. Audrey Tautou plays Sophie Neveu, who may be a key to the puzzle of whether Jesus Christ was more human than divine. There is a who’s who of great supporting actors, including Ian McKellen as a Holy Grail enthusiast, Paul Bettany as a creepy member of Opus Dei, Alfred Molina as a wicked bishop and Jean Reno as a cop who may be good or bad.
The film pulls us along, never really allowing us to feel
too much for the characters, who are given a moment or two of history that
barely suffices for character development, but the plot pulls us in because it
is so elaborate and cleverly turns history on its head to the point where we
can actually believe what we are being told. However, the uproar by the
Catholic Church is semi-ridiculous. Protesting The Da Vinci Code and claiming it full of false teachings is about
as ridiculous as people griping that Crash
misrepresents
The Da Vinci Code is entertaining – better than most summer movies and maybe a little too solemn for its own good. But it succeeds where it needs to. It’s a good thriller with great locations and some good plot twists. After some of the misfires and truly dreadful films that have been released within the last six months – Hostel, Wolf Creek, Freedomland, Failure to Launch, Basic Instinct 2, Hard Candy, Silent Hill, to pick on The Da Vinci Code just seems unnecessary.