Movie #140 - The Da Vinci Code

Title: The Da Vinci Code

Director: Ron Howard

Release Year: 2006

Plot Summary: A murder inside the Louvre and clues in Da Vinci paintings lead to the discovery of a religious mystery protected by a secret society for two thousand years - which could shake the foundations of Christianity.

Thoughts: I really wasn't expecting much of this movie, so I suppose it surpassed my expectations. In terms of acting, really the only standout was Sir Ian McKellan, but he was really a standout. For a movie with such a recognizable cast, that's actually sort of a disappointment though. Tom Hanks, I have to say, was not terribly charismatic or even interesting as the main character; but then again, Robert Langdon was never a terribly interesting main character to begin with...

As for story... well, I'd be quite surprised if the vast majority of people in the world don't know the basic story by now. I'd say the movie does a decent job of conveying the plotline in a relatively straightforward way. There were a couple points which were poorly explained, but I can't remember anything particularly grievous.

One unreservedly positive thing I can say about this film is that it's quite pretty. The story wanders around in some quite picturesque places, and I enjoyed seeing such various locations as the Louvre, a really spiffy Swiss bank, medieval chapels in London, and so on. Of course I'd really love to travel around Europe amongst other places, so perhaps I'm a bit biased about such things.

Recommendations: Not bad. I'd probably recommend it over the book, just because it's not written nearly as painfully. ;) Anyway it's a fairly enjoyable popcorn flick. Just give it a miss if you're really afraid of being offended by the "message" of the movie, I guess.