The Da Vinci Code DVD Review

View our special The Da Vinci Code feature!

"The Da Vinci Code" reviews

DVD

The Da Vinci Code

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2006-10-13 15:00:56

Provider

DVD Review

While opinion is divided on author Dan Brown's writing style (judgements ranging anywhere from adequate to appalling), everyone agrees that he concocted a rattlingly good page-turner and, with such luminous backdrops as the Louvre and the real Leonardo's real paintings to look at, the film version always seemed promising.

Sadly The Da Vinci Code is not the stick-on classic it should've been and the blame lies largely with director Ron Howard, whose overly-literal approach to the material doesn't really capture the imagination on screen the way it does on the page.

The best known plot in film history since The Ten Commandments unravels as a series of clues scrawled by a dying curator in his own blood on his own body. Tom Hanks takes the role of Robert Langdon, the Harvard symbologist, very solemnly, barely cracking a smile, even though he has the lovely Audrey Tatou (Amelie) to play off as cryptologist Sophie Nevue.

Ian McKellen, Hollywood's Anglo-thesp du jour, at least has some fun as Leigh Teabing, the British scholar who explains the film's central contention that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and the Catholic church - particularly the shadowy and ultra-orthodox Opus Dei, whose monk/assassin Silas (Paul Bettany) leaves a trail of blood across France and England - tried to cover it up.

Ron Howard seems to have made it an article of faith to cram as much of the book's detail as possible into the film's 149 minutes which makes it all a tad ponderous but it certainly has its moments.

The special features here are plentiful with the pick being: The Codes of The Da Vinci Code Feature, Ron Howard introducing the film and the excitement of beginning production at the Louvre in Paris, A Discussion with author Dan Brown, A Portrait of Langdon Featurette, What do Tom Hanks and Langdon have in common?

Then there's the casting of Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu and The Codes of The Da Vinci Code Featurette which discusses the hidden codes and symbols in the film. And that's just skimming the surface.