Rank & Bile At The Movies - The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code (2006)
COLUMBIA PICTURES
Starring:Tom Hanks Audrey Tautou Ian McKellen Paul Bettany Jean Reno Etienne Chicot Alfred Molina Clive Carter Seth Gabel
Director:Ron Howard

Thanks to Guy for getting us tickets to see the Da Vinci code, it not only passed a particularly slow Sunday afternoon it also got us inside and out of the appaling London weather.

So how was the film you ask?

Well the critics hated it and I have to say, so did I! Like a Chinese takeaway I felt somewhat satisfied as I left the cinema only to find, as the evening wore on, my satisfaction level dropping if not plummeting. It had been ages since I read the book and having thought more about it I remembered more and more of the sub plots and detail in the book, that had been cut out, mangled or glossed over so quickly, they lost all meaning in the film. Despite this the damn thing still trundled on for an exhausting 2 ½ hours. Mainly because whilst the plot clipped along at lightning speed it came to a shuddering halt in the last ¼ which was dragged out at snails pace completely throwing the films pace off kilter. In the showing I saw, bum numbed patrons became very restless at this point.

On the bright side Sir Ian Mc Kellen turned in an amusing if somewhat hammy performance as Sir Leigh Teabing, Paul Bettany as Silas was adequate although both he and Alfred Molina dropped their accents as often as Britney Spears drops her offspring! Audrey Tatou was …..well, Audrey Tatou her usual quirky but non sexy self but then I imagine it’s difficult to raise any kind of passion opposite that bloated old windbag Tom Hanks. (hideously mis cast as the enigmatic and handsome Robert Langdon).

I have to say I really don’t get Mr. Hanks appeal he is possibly the dullest actor alive with the least screen presence but hey! That’s just my opinion.

All in all it was a slick disappointment for me, but it has raked in $224 million at the box office already and is the second largest box office debut of all time. So maybe I’m being too harsh? If nothing else it knocked the poison dwarf and Mission Impossible 3 off the top spot so it can't be all bad then!
** Stars


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