The Da Vinci Code (2006) (***)

Genre - Action? Adventure? History?

It's tough not digressing to discussing the original book by Dan Brown while reviewing this movie, so all i would say is this- the book is no doubt a well-written commercial pot-boiler; it's not a great literary piece by any stretch of imagination, the controversial topic being a major reason for it's success. Anyway, it's kind of hard for a non-Christian like me to really understand what the fuss is all about. The church's entire philosophy revolves essentially around the Bible, which is all said and done a book written by man and so is bound to have doubters/ detractors. The book and the movie simply raise an alternate theory, by probably using the same facts the Church uses to conclude exactly the opposite. It's a matter of faith isn't it? Maybe that's why i couldn't fully appreciate the movie too- one question which keeps popping up all the time is: SO?
The movie is pretty faithful to the book upto the interval. The departure from the book, especially in the penultimate 20 minutes or so is necessary (maybe) to justify the need to have a 2+ hr film, and to give it enough shock value to sustain it. Ron Howard does an excellent job at recreating the magic of Da Vinci and the Louvre and manages to capture the essence of the book pretty well. Tom Hanks is, well, Tom Hanks, and can't really do much wrong. His bad hairdo notwithstanding, he does portray a sexed-down Robert Langdon well. Audrey Tautou is an enigma (not exactly in a good sense), with her accent changing in the movie- she has 2 distinct french accents as well as once going on to have an english-french hybrid one! Anyway, she has enough innocence and ability (read 'cute') to play her part well. Sir Ian McKellen (of Gandalf and Magneto fame) is clearly the best actor in the movie, he actually made me feel sorry for him going bad. Silas the albino is just not scary enough, probably because i have seen Paul Bettany in other roles- a better choice would had been an unknown person.
Still i didnt like the movie as much as i had hoped i would, especially given the hype Sony pictures and the Indian Government (unintentionally and unnecessarily by the latter) generated. The movie is just too darn long (2+ hrs!). It moves along slowly (just like the book) because it has to stop and keep giving history lessons. Also, the conclusion is as weak as the book's ending. Still, a movie worth watching once maybe. or maybe not. Wait for the DVD