Spring Break
Film Version Of 'Da Vinci Code' Isn't So Divine
DVD Review
Dan Gross
Issue date: 11/16/06 Section: Focus
"The Da Vinci Code," the much-hyped Ron Howard-directed film adaptation of the smash hit novel, is now out on DVD. The movie did not live up to all the hype because despite its $125 million budget and $217 million gross, it got trashed by critics, deservedly so. The DVD may still rack up lots of rentals and sales, but you the potential viewer should take all this hype with a heavy grain of salt, because "Harry Potter" this ain't. This is ultimately a clumsy, lumbering movie that goads you into keeping up with a 2½ hour history lesson, but with smatterings of Hollywood clichés, faux-suspense, quickie action sequences and attempts at sex appeal to hopefully keep you from tuning out completely. The cast includes Tom Hanks ("Forrest Gump"), Audrey Tautou ("Amelie"), Ian McKellen ("The Lord of the Rings"), Jean Reno ("Leon: The Professional"), Paul Bettany ("Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World") and Alfred Molina ("Spider-Man 2").
The plot is fairly complicated, if not convoluted.
Harvard symbologist Dr. Robert Langdon (Hanks) is summoned as a consultant to help decipher the unusual murder scene of a Louvre curator in Paris. The murderer is an extremely ascetic Catholic named Silas (Bettany), a member of a controversial and slightly masochistic Catholic society named Opus Dei. The murder motive in question is an ancient site, which supposedly contains the source of God's power on earth, or more simply, the Holy Grail. This, as it turns out, is an incendiary legend people have died for and a historic sect named the Priory of Sion was created over. This legend ensnares Langdon, the curator's cryptologist granddaughter, Sophie Neveu (Tautou) and Grail historian Sir Leigh Teabing (McKellen) throughout the course of the film, as they use the clues provided by the dead Louvre creator to find the Grail. The trio are further motivated by the relentless pursuit of Langdon by both police captain Bezu Fache (Reno), who thinks Langdon committed the Louvre murder, and Catholic archbishop Manuel Aringarosa (Molina), who is determined to extinguish the Holy Grail legend, and anyone actively pursuing it.
The plot is fairly complicated, if not convoluted.
Harvard symbologist Dr. Robert Langdon (Hanks) is summoned as a consultant to help decipher the unusual murder scene of a Louvre curator in Paris. The murderer is an extremely ascetic Catholic named Silas (Bettany), a member of a controversial and slightly masochistic Catholic society named Opus Dei. The murder motive in question is an ancient site, which supposedly contains the source of God's power on earth, or more simply, the Holy Grail. This, as it turns out, is an incendiary legend people have died for and a historic sect named the Priory of Sion was created over. This legend ensnares Langdon, the curator's cryptologist granddaughter, Sophie Neveu (Tautou) and Grail historian Sir Leigh Teabing (McKellen) throughout the course of the film, as they use the clues provided by the dead Louvre creator to find the Grail. The trio are further motivated by the relentless pursuit of Langdon by both police captain Bezu Fache (Reno), who thinks Langdon committed the Louvre murder, and Catholic archbishop Manuel Aringarosa (Molina), who is determined to extinguish the Holy Grail legend, and anyone actively pursuing it.
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