The Da Vinci Code Review
by Jerry at the Movies (Faust668 AT msn DOT com)July 2nd, 2007
THE DA VINCI CODE (2006)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
RATING: One star and a half
At 159 minutes, "The Da Vinci Code" wears out its welcome at about the forty minute mark. This is unfortunate because the movie establishes some suspense within its murder mystery - the notion of demonizing codes and symbols - that evolves into an overdone and, frankly, not very enthralling conspiracy theory. I love conspiracy theories, even if some cause disbelief, but this movie becomes more absurd and pointless as it reaches its anticlimactic ending.
Tom Hanks is Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist with a hairdo that belongs to an animated character or one of the Three Stooges (yep, it is a distraction). He is recruited to the Louvre where a grisly murder has taken place, with symbols like pentagrams and phrases like "So dark the con of man" gracing the walls and floors. Langdon finds all kinds of clues, thanks to the victim, the Louvre's curator, who has orchestrated these clues in such a way that no mortal, aging man could ever do who is dying from a gunshot wound. He gets help from a French policewoman, Sophie (Audrey Tatou), who is not quite what she seems (well, she is a cryptologist). Something is suspect and thanks to some red herrings, of which this movie possesses quite a few, Langdon and Sophie are branded suspected killers in the death of the curator! Now the whole French police, which includes the determined Inspector Fache (Jean Reno), chase them from France to London and back to the Louvre.
The most fascinating section of the film involves the grand, majestic Ian McKellen as Sir Leigh Teabing, an authority on the Holy Grail and anything related to the Knights Templar. He explains that the codes Langdon and Sophie are trying to decipher reveal who, not what, the Holy Grail really is (let's just say it has nothing to do with a carpenter's cup but rather Mary Magdalene herself). All of this is thrillingly realized in superb dialogue by McKellen as he debunks the myths of Christianity, Jesus' divinity and so on.
Unfortunately, just when the film picks up a little steam, it is back to running around from town to crypt to a London bus as Langdon keeps trying to decipher the clues to this major puzzle. If Mary Magdalane was married to Jesus (hello "Last Temptation of Christ" detractors!) and fathered a daughter who became royalty in the Merovingian Dynasty of France, then that means the bloodline exists to the current day. This is what the Catholic Church, the Vatican and some albino, self- flagellating Opus Dei member (played by Paul Bettany who seems to have wandered in from the "Passion of the Christ") are trying to protect, but to what end? Is it because it would reveal that Jesus was a man who could marry, and not just some prophet who had a firm understanding of spreading peace and love? That Jesus is not the Son of God? Ah, maybe that is it. Sorry, people, the Kazantzakis novel of "Last Temptation of Christ" sort of revealed the possibility that he would want to lead such a life, even if he hadn't.
Based on the controversial novel by Dan Brown, "The Da Vinci Code" never musters enough excitement with its story because the actors are practically all dull. Tom Hanks looks so placid and unconvincing as a symbologist that he feels like a distraction. Amy Tautou, so wonderful in the film "Amelie," is so flaccid and devoid of personality that it seems like a crime (don't just watch "Amelie" for proof of her dynamic acting potential, see "Dirty Pretty Things" as well). Even reliably hammy Alfred Molina as a Vatican priest seems to be coasting by on menacing stares and nothing more. Not even the truly reliable Jean Reno musters much energy. Practically everyone in this movie, with the exception of McKellen, is sleepwalking through a hazy, cheerless script. I never thought the pairing of director Ron Howard and actor Tom Hanks combined would make me snooze but I think, in time, "The Da Vinci Code" will be called the most boring controversial film ever made.
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