THE DA VINCI CODE MOVIE REVIEW

THE DA VINCI CODE
I vividly remember what I did on the 30th of August, 2004. I was traveling from my hometown hot sultry Chennai (India). I was flying to Chicago but with a couple of stopovers in between, one of them being Dubai. With a 17 hour transit time at the airport I was at the leisure of obtaining a one day travel visa, instead I chose not to. For my nose was buried deep within the pages of a book, a book that I couldn't let go for 17 hrs, a book that was titled, { Duh,obviously } The Da Vinci Code . Little did I realize then that this small paperback edition would soon become the highest selling novel among adult readers. So it was pretty obvious that a movie was soon to follow.

After a very short wait, The Da Vinci Code hit theaters worldwide on the 19th of May, 2006. Sporting a familiar cast { with Tom Hanks right at the helm } and crew { Ron Howard in the director's chair }, this big budget production managed to create a lot of controversy { or should I say publicity } owing to protests and bans in several countries worldwide. Though many were displeased with the literary style of Dan Brown, myself included, the book offered an intriguing plot, nonetheless.

At this point there are very few people out there who do not know the story behind The Code { they read the book or read the abridged version to maintain a profile during discussions}. For the uninitiated the story of The Da Vinci code can be summed up with six simple words – a quest for the holy grail. Yes, it's true.. Indiana Jones found the wrong grail. The movie, thanks to Ron Howard's expertise, adapts the plot in a stylish and cinematic perspective. Nevertheless, the movie follows every page of the book so "religiously", creativity seems like another grail quest. The story opens with a really old French curator, Jacques Sauniere (Jean-Pierre Marielle) being chased down the hallways of the famous Louvre (Paris) by a mysterious albino assailant, Silas (Paul Bettany). After acquiring what he was after, Silas obviously shoots his target in the gut. But lo and behold, after his assailant leaves, Sauniere survives long enough to leave behind a complicated set of clues, meant for his granddaughter, Sophie Neveu (who is working for the French PD.. How convenient!!). I could mention some of the clues he leaves behind but it would end up filling the whole review. Soon Captain Fache (Jean Reno) is on the scene, immediately suspecting Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), a Harvard symbologist to be Sauniere's killer. Why ? Because Sauniere wrote in big, bold letters the words "P.S Find Robert Langdon" right next to his dead body. How was he to know his statement would bring about such ramifications on Langdon. But the Captain instead chooses to bring the unsuspecting Langdon onto the crime scene, expecting him to spill the beans. Unfortunately for him, Sophie (Audrey Tautou) is a step ahead, trying to warn Langdon about the trap that he has just walked into. From this point on ensues multiple sequences of puzzle solving, escapes and lengthy conversations taking the pair of Langon and Neveu from one exotic locale to another. Starting right from the Louvre, the movie takes us on a trip through the bank of Zürich (Paris), a huge French estate belonging to Sir Leigh Teabing (Ian McKellen), the Temple church (London), the Roslin church and back to the Louvre. In the sidelines unfolds another story, one involving Sauniere's killer, Silas, who has also embarked on the same quest. After following instructions from an anonymous informant, only known as “The Teacher”, Silas kills the key members of the Priori of Scion (a brotherhood that has been protecting the grail for over 2000 years), to posses the grail's secret location. His desperation is heightened by the fact that he works for Bishop Aringarosa (Alfred Molina) a bigwig at Opus Dei (a catholic organization who vehemently want the secret to be lost forever.) The secret if revealed "could devastate the very foundations of Mankind". Mankind? Is there no other religion on earth?

What makes this plot intriguing is how it selects locations that everyone has heard about and reveals something fascinating about it. Adding to its intensity and suspense is the way it blatantly attacks existing organizations, and most importantly the way it questions elements that we might otherwise take at face value. The story constantly belittles the audience by revealing one startling revelation after another, make oneself ask the question, "How did I miss this?", masking the fact that initially nobody cared. "Sometimes people miss things right in front of them.", (a dialog by Ian McKellen stated against the British authorities) was probably meant for us, the audience. Throughout the course of the movie, we get to experience good cinematography in all the promising locations. Whenever sequences are interlaced by images from the past (to visually aid Sir Teabing's explanations), the transitions are nothing short of enthralling. But what the film lacks in its entirety is an atmosphere of excitement, that even a movie like National treasure successfully managed to capture. Some scenes get bogged down with so much dialog, some of the non Da Vinci code readers tuned themselves off during detailed conversations. On the other hand, those who had read the book, probably longed for a remote with a fast forward button.

This brings us to the point of specific criticism. Till today, I have no idea why Tom Hanks had to play the role of Robert Langdon. I am not saying that he underplayed his performance, seems to me anybody could have pulled of that role. I was frustrated at the fact that Hanks turned out to just be a marketing gimmick, to prove to people that The Code is a BIG BUDGET summer movie. Ian McKellen plays an immediately likable, buoyant Sir Teabing, who surprisingly doesn't carry with him a hint of aristocracy. Nothing much can be said about other performances save Paul Bettanys. A good effort (especially during the chastising scenes) but finally not good enough. The same can be said about the director, Ron Howard. Trying to be faithful to the source, Howard delivers what any Da Vinci code reader would want to see but nobody realized that the source would be so lack-luster on the big screen. One would expect an experienced director like Ron Howard to realize this (or did Dan Brown not give permission to toy around with the screenplay?). A scene where Tom Hanks tries to break the cryptex code was so similar to the scene from A Beautiful Mind , Howard might as well just pasted the same scene and nobody would have noticed the difference. One can have no complaints against the musical score by Hans Zimmer, except that the movie could have certainly used a few more "exciting" tracks.

The movie isint an entirely pointless experience but appears to be, since everyone was expecting a lot more from it. There are a few sequences that are quite enjoyable. (For the first time I feasted my eyes on how a swiss bank operates.) But the secret that the movie actually possessed (no I am not taking about the grail) that gave it those big box office numbers throughout the world was its brilliant marketing. The websites and trailers probably captured the essence of the book a lot better than the movie did. Hidden clues within every trailer (I still haven't figured out the 2nd trailer) and on-line treasure hunts on Google are bound to get everyone excited.

If you have nothing else to do this weekend and if you are a big fan of the book and only if you have already seen X3 would I recommend this movie. For the rest, wait till the DVD comes out. You can always pick up a copy from that big Dan Brown fan who got suckered into buying or renting it. - {BATMAN^V^EXILED}

Movie Links

The Da Vinci Code Official Page

The Da Vinci Code IMDB Page

The Da Vinci Code HD Trailers