Movies: A DaVinci Code Review

Whether you are an avid reader or not, you surely had to hear about the book “The DaVinci Code”. It was only at the top of the best-seller list for more weeks than one can count. Dan Brown must be one of the richest men in the world right now. And it was obvious that someone was going to turn this masterpiece of a novel into a movie. And what better person to do it than Ron Howard? With great past films under his belt like “A Beautiful Mind,” Howard was sure to produce a work of art.

Well, things didn’t go as he planned, at least not as far as the critics were concerned. Perhaps the biggest problem with this movie was the first problem they encountered before the movie was released. Howard wanted Harrison Ford to play the lead role in this movie. He asked anyone on the street and they would have told him that Ford would have been the perfect choice for the role. But he wasn’t available or didn’t want to. Reports vary depending on who you ask. So Howard went to his next pick, Tom Hanks.

Without a doubt, Hanks is an accomplished actor, having delivered great performances in movies like “Apollo 13” and “Philadelphia.” But critics literally trashed Hanks and his co-star Audrey Tautou. They called their performances wooden and uninspiring. One reviewer said that the most exciting scene in the film was when they were in the library discussing the story of Christ. That’s pretty sad for what’s supposed to be an action movie. Another reviewer said that the movie actually seemed longer than the book.

But the worst part of this whole production is that it looks so bad that reviews are posted on rottentomatoes.com. This is a website that only posts really bad movie reviews. For this to appear on this website is truly a disaster. Some of the comments should make Ron Howard want to hide under his bed. One reviewer said, “More boring than watching DaVinci’s paint dry.” That’s a mouthful.

But not all reviews were 100% bad. There was some praise for Ian McKellen, who, according to most critics, gave a charming performance and saved the film from being a total disaster. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, as McKellen has always been at the top of his game no matter what he does. His performances in “X-Men” and “The Lord of the Rings” should be enough to convince anyone that he is a very talented actor.

So what went wrong with the DaVinci Code? How is it possible that such a good novel becomes such a disastrous movie? Some critics say that Howard tried to play it too safe and had too much laborious dialogue that only slowed down the pace. Others said that Hanks was the wrong person for the role of Langdon. Whatever the reason, the movie and the book are definitely worlds apart in terms of achievement.