A good friend of mine twisted my arm (persistently) and convinced me to read The DaVinci Code earlier this month. I read it while traveling in Italy. (Geez, was it only two weeks ago since then?) I kind of wish I read it before going to Paris. It looks like I missed a few interesting things.
Anyways, my wife and I saw the movie tonight. I must say, all the negative reviews had me worried. I was actually pleasantly surprised by what I saw on the screen. Overall, I liked it. Let's say 7 out of 10.
Some of the comments made by critics were:
It's too long at 2.5 hours. To me, it didn't feel too long. I didn't find myself wishing the movie would hurry up. I didn't check my watch until I left the theater.
Tom Hanks is miscast as Robert Langdon. He might be. It might have been better to see an unknown in the role, or Bill Paxton who producers originally wanted. Hanks does not match the image of Langdon given by the book, and is not convincing as a professor. But I thought he did a pretty good job in this film. Not as bad as The Terminal, that's for sure. In the end, it worked out pretty well.
The movie spends too much time explaining the backstory. Actually, I thought the book spent too much time explaining things. The movie glosses over some things and skips others entirely. Which is fine, because its not a bloody documentary. For instance, I don't think the words “Opus Dei” were uttered until 1.5 hours into the movie. And then only 2 or 3 times through the whole movie. After all of the fuss the book makes about Opus Dei, the movie hardly talks about them.
Deviations from the Book. The problem for filmmakers when adapting a popular book into a movie is that (a) to properly adapt a book that includes all the scenes would require a 5 hour movie; (b) authors are able to say things in words that do not translate well to movies; and (c) once you have to cut some scenes out for time, you have to modify others to make the story make sense. I found this movie was quite faithful to the book, and there were only a few subtle changes from what Dan Brown had written. For instance, Robert Langdon solves most of the clues, and Sophie Neveau is just along for the ride. She is just there basically to ask “what? why?“ and have Langdon or Teabig explain some other piece of history to her (and us). The book spends much time establishing her as an accomplished cryptologist.
Anyways, if you liked the book, go see The DaVinci Code. If you have not read the book, or are not interested in it, you might not like it. But so it is with all movies.