Release
Date: May 19, 2006 Studio: Columbia Pictures Director: Ron Howard
Screenwriter: Akiva Goldsman Starring: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Sir Ian McKellen, Alfred
Molina, Jürgen Prochnow, Paul Bettany, Jean Reno Genre: Thriller MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for disturbing images, violence, some nudity,
thematic material, brief drug references and sexual content) Official Website:
SoDarktheConofMan.com
Plot Summary: From director Ron Howard,
producer Brian Grazer and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, the Oscar-winning team of
"A Beautiful Mind," and producer John Calley (the Oscar-nominated "The Remains
of the Day"), comes the film version of Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," one of
the most popular and talked about novels of our time, with a cast headed by
two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Sir Ian McKellen, Alfred
Molina, Jürgen Prochnow, Paul Bettany and Jean Reno.
Whether
or not you're an avid reader, you certainly had to hear about the book
"The DaVinci Code". It was only on the top of the best sellers 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 a no brainer that somebody was going
to turn this masterpiece of a novel into a movie. And what better person
to do that than Ron Howard? With past great movies under his belt like
"A Beautiful Mind", Howard was sure to produce a work of art.
Well, things didn't quite turn out the way he had planned, at least
not as far as the critics were concerned. Maybe the biggest problem with
this movie was the first problem they encountered before the movie was
even cast. Howard wanted Harrison Ford to play the lead role in this
film. Ask anybody on the streets and they would have told you that Ford
would have been the perfect choice for the part. But he was either not
available or didn't want to do it. The reports vary depending on who you
ask. So Howard went to his next choice, Tom Hanks.
Hanks is certainly an accomplished actor, having turned in some great
performances in films like "Apollo 13" and "Philadelphia". But critics
literally tore Hanks and his female costar Audrey Tautou to shreds. They
called their performances wooden and uninspiring. One critic said the
most exciting scene in the movie was when they were in the library
discussing the history of Christ. That is pretty sad for what's supposed
to be an action movie. Another critic said the movie actually seemed
longer than the book.
But the worst part of this whole production is that it appears to be
so bad that reviews of it are actually posted on rottentomatoes.com.
This is a web site that only posts reviews of really bad movies. For
this one to appear on this web site is truly a disaster. Some of the
comments should make Ron Howard want to hide under his bed. One critic
said "Duller than watching DaVinci's paint dry". That's quite a
mouthful.
But not all the reviews were 100% bad. There were some kudos to Ian
McKellen who most critics say turned in a delightful performance and
saved the movie from being a total disaster. This should come as no
surprise to anyone as McKellen has always been at the top of his game no
matter what he does. His performances in "X-Men" and "Lord Of The Rings"
should be enough to convince anyone that he is one very talented actor.
So just what went wrong with the DaVinci Code? How could such a great
novel turn into such a mess of a movie? Some critics say that Howard
tried to play it too safe and had too much plodding dialogue which just
slowed down the pace. Others said that Hanks was just the wrong person
for the role of Langdon. Whatever the reason, the movie and the book are
definitely worlds apart in terms of achievement.
Review By: Michael Russell Your Independent guide to
Films.
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Release
Date: May 19, 2006