Gather Member Movie Review: The Da Vinci Code

Successfully transitioning from bestselling novel to the big screen is a formidable task.  With more than 60 million copies in print and too many weeks on the best seller list to count, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code certainly falls within this realm. As a rule, I try to avoid seeing films adapted from novels, but I decided to break tradition and check out the newly released Da Vinci Code DVD.  It has been a couple of years since I have read the novel and although I remember solving the mystery well before finishing it, I was curious about how the movie would reflect the essence of the novel. Director Ron Howard and screenplay writer Akiva Goldsman (Cinderella Man, A Beautiful Mind) took on the challenge and for the most part succeeded.

Tom Hanks portrays Robert Langdon, an American symbologist who is associated with the murder of a Louvre curator while lecturing in Paris.  He joins forces with French cryptologist Sophie Neveu, played by Audrey Tatou of Amelie fame, who tips Langdon off that he is a suspect.  After uncovering clues left by the deceased next to da Vinci's works, they are on the run from a determined police investigator (Jean Reno) and off to uncover a mystery that, unbeknownst to them, would bring to light the shocking historical truth about the origins of Christianity.  Throughout their travels from France to England, their world is turned upside down by an albino monk (Paul Bettany), a powerful bishop (Alfred Molina), an impatient safe keeper (Jurgen Prochnow), and an historical zealot (Sir Ian McKellan).

As to be expected, the movie is a streamlined version of the novel and focuses more on the mystery itself than on in depth character development, motivations, and back story.  The movie vacillates between quiet moments of discovery and religious history lessons to all out run-for-your-life sequences. And despite the movie's length of 2 hours and 40 minutes, the plot moves the viewer along at a surprisingly good clip in anticipation of the next revelation.  The soundtrack, composed by Hans Zimmer (Driving Miss Daisy, Gladiator, The Lion King, King Arthur), is a subtle but effective complement to the action.  In terms of the acting, both Hanks and Tatou fell a bit flat in their roles, but the supporting cast keeps it spicy, especially McKellan and Bettany.

One bonus of the Da Vinci Code DVD is the additional ninety-minute disc of "Special Features: 10 Behind the Scenes Featurettes."   There are actor and director interviews as well as what it was like to film around such landmarks as the Louvre.  My favorite part, however, is the section where the viewer can uncover the hidden symbols in the film.  As a puzzle and mystery fanatic, this is very appealing and a real challenge.  I will definitely watch the movie again just to find the symbols and discover the nuances that I missed the first time around.