Da Vinci Code Reviewed, Book and Movie

 
There is absolutely no justification for the acclaim, interest, and infamy which Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" (2003) has received.  Unfortunately, although it has a solid plot for the average work of fiction, the prose is far from any literary merit — the writing 'style' (loathe to even call it that) and the flow of the prose are hackneyed and clunky at best, the characters never come near breaching two-dimensionality, and were it not for the potential "let's get the freaky-religious folks in an uproar" factor, this book would never have deserved to be published in hard-cover, at best as a dime-store paperback.

I was hoping that in the hands of a good screenwriter, the story would be served better — Brown's atrocious prose would not be present, and perhaps the screenwriter would also improve the dialogue, and a good set of actors could breathe life to the wooden characters.  Add a masterful director and editor to serve the story's necessarily breakneck pacing, and a cinematographer and art director who between them could conjure up something of a "Name of the Rose" feel and look to the project, and the movie could easily deserve the obnoxious amount of money it is bound to make simply due to its notoriety.

Akiva Goldsman's script is not that script.  It is mediocre, not brilliant — the dialogue is never fluid, not once transcendent.  Even the film's supposed climax and denoument are curiously lacking in dramatic depth already in the writing: Langdon's final monologue to Sophie Neveu reads like a speech from a bad revival meeting.  The poor actors who valiantly try to bring life to their characters are outright vanquished by the vapid material.

Ron Howard's direction is slow and ponderous — the required speed and flow that would have been required to pull the movie together are simply not there.  The editing is by-the-book unsurprising and devoid of any artfulness.  The cinematography is commonplace, there is little beauty or awe created, no moments of sublime visuals captured — and considering what one could have done with all the locations and artwork present, it is absolutely ridiculous how mundane all these masterpieces of art, architecture, and nature have been made to look.  The art director must have been sleeping — a PBS documentary Art Director could have pulled more out of the project on his worst day.

Audrey Tautou, of Amélie fame, is a good casting choice for Sophie Neveu, and she acquits herself well in a project that is downright ungrateful due to the lack of artistry on the part of the entire artistic personnel and a screenplay which never throws her a bone.  Tom Hanks, however, is entirely vacuous as Robert Langdon, a part that might have been better served by someone like Gary Sinise — an actor of such intelligence and charisma one could buy his leaps of symbological genius with ease.  While Tom Hanks is often voted America's favorite actor, nothing about him says to me Harvard-professor-of-astounding-mental-acuity, nor does anyone buy that a police commissioner would think Hanks a murderer, whereas Sinise has that questionability.  So Tom turns in a solid but charmless, immemorable performance.  Ian McKellen is the only one who transcends the lackluster script and does a beautiful job as a zealous British nobleman/grail historian.  Sadly, nobody else in the movie even bears mention.  Their performances were so bland and weak they don't even deserve to be panned.

I wish this movie had been directed by an artist, the other aspects handled by a creative team worth their salt.  For example, had this movie been done by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Gladiator) or Anthony Minghella (The English Patient), heck, even Grand Master Hack Steven Spielberg, or any one of a number of great action/adventure directors, this project would not have been the bland, bleak SNORE it was now.

Yes, of course you should go see it — goodness knows everyone you know will be talking about it.  So you might as well go see it so you can chip in your own 2 cents about why you did or did not like it.  Bring lots of candy and soda, though, to keep you awake.


Tags: Movies | Books