The Da Vinci Code (2006) Synopsis:
While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.
Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion -- an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others.
In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret and an explosive historical truth will be lost forever.
The Da Vinci Code (2006) Movie Review:
The foundation of academia is debate, speculation and interpretation. Why should we not apply this to man’s greatest debate, religion?
“The Da Vinci Code” stars Tom Hanks as Professor Robert Langdon, a symbologist who is approached by a French police detective to come to the famed Louvre museum. It turns out that the curator of the museum has been murdered. The body has dozens of clues on it that only a trained professional such as Langdon can interpret. The body also seems to link Langdon to the murder or is it trying to say something else?
The clues lead Langdon and the curator’s granddaughter Sophie (Audrey Tautou) on a mystery that will shake the foundations of Christianity and shatter the “Holy Grail” myth for all eternity.
Hot on their trail is a conflicted bishop (Alfred Molina) and an albino assassin (Paul Bettany) who have their own agendas when it comes to the Holy Grail.
Best-selling author Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code has sparked numerous debates, electrified readers and has brought up so many questions. The book is more famous for being condemned than the story it tries to convey. Is the Catholic Church that threatened by popular media?
Over the course of history as in the novel and in the film, there have been dozens of interpretations and ideas that flatter and condone what Christianity teaches us.
No matter what you believe, the true nature and myth of The Holy Grail is fascinating for anyone who loves history, mystery or debate. It is that foundation that has drove the success of the novel.
The film focuses more on the ideas of what is in the novel than trying to become a quick paced suspense thriller like maybe “The Bourne Identity”. No matter how the filmmakers decided to make the film it they would have never have been able to match the novel. Mainly because Brown conveys a lot of information and connections in the novel that would have to be over-looked for pacing reasons. So the filmmakers made a decision, which some fans are surely not to like.
Another pitfall that plagued the filmmakers was the book’s central hero. He is reluctant, claustrophobic and most of the novel is within his carefully meticulous academic mind as he uncovers the clues. It’s like reading a Sherlock Holmes story, only this time he doesn’t constantly interpret the clues to Watson as he goes.
I guess I am one of the few critics who liked the film. The reason why I liked it is because it was more about ideas than thrilling an audience. I admit there is a lot wrong with the pacing in the film but with any novel adaptation that is bound to happen. Anyone remember the first two Harry Potter films?
I really liked Sir Ian McKellan, Paul Bettany and Jean Reno as the more colorful members of the cast. They needed to allow the Langdon character to relax more because Hanks plays him as so utterly serious and often useless. Sure he is an academic but not a buffoon. Tautou is a brilliant talent and her Sophie is vulnerable, conflicted and intelligent. It’s just the detailed characterizations of Sophie in the novel that don’t come across very well on screen. That truly is a shame.
I just really wish Alfred Hitchcock was alive to tackle this novel and its subject matter. Now that would have been a brilliant film.
This film isn’t by far a Hollywood summer blockbuster but it is a lot better than they are saying.
So Says the Soothsayer
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The Da Vinci Code (2006) review written by: Dean Kish
12th October, 2008 
