The Da Vinci Code (2006)

A while back I succumbed to the media hype and read Dan Brown's novel of the same name which was something of a satisfying page-turner; it was far from anyone's idea of great literature, but a more than rattling tale.  And now I have finally watched the movie, which, while relatively faithful to the book, did feel rather bloated.  I have always thought of Ron Howard as something of a journeyman director, and perhaps a sharper eye could have tightened up the nearly two and a half hours running time.  It was nicely photographed with some pretty nifty location work including the interior of the Louvre, but it lacked both pace and excitement.  The religious content of the plot are not under discussion here, since both novel and film are works of fiction and therefore should not really be the focus of criticism (some people apparently hated the movie on these grounds).

If one is to be critical at all, one might start with Tom Hanks in the lead where America's "Everyman" came across as a long-winded bore in the role of the master codebreaker.  He had little in the way of fizz with his co-star Audrey Tautou who is attractive enough to look at but who brought little to the table (other than of necessity being French).  Such acting honours that were evident belong to Paul Bettany as the homicidal, albino monk (as I said before, he makes a fine villain), Ian McKellen as the crippled fanatic who brought the only measure of lightheartedness to the proceedings, and Jean Reno who didn't need much of a stretch to portray the dogged police inspector in pursuit. Juergen Prochnow's and Alfred Molina's roles could have been played by just about any able actor and only added to the europudding feel of this overstuffed American production.

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