This is one time I wish I hadn't read the book before seeing the movie. I wanted to have the experience of seeing the movie "cold" without any prior knowledge of the plot twists. Dan Brown wrote the book "The Da Vinci Code": a murder mystery with more hidden clues and codes to unscramble than the National Security Agency could ever think of. The movie, starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou, tries to throw the entire book at us in about two-and-a-half hours. By being faithful to the book, director Ron Howard has taken on far too much here. But, to his credit, somehow he molded Brown's book into a film that I recommend.
The Da Vinci Code sparkles with intrigue -- mostly. But it sparkles in more spots than not, and it comes on strong in the right places. Other directors most likely would have failed miserably trying to make this film. Howard didn't. For example, he uses really cool visual special effects to allow us see exactly what symboligyst/code-breaker Tom Hanks sees while unscrambling anagrams and solving puzzles presented throughout the movie. There are also great visual effects that let us see inside Hanks' photographic memory as he visualizes a group of objects and puts them in the correct order to solve a code. In his mind he sees what you might expect to see a puzzle-solving graphics expert produce on an Apple computer. The film would have been clearer and more fun if Howard would have used more of those cool effects. He had to leave room, though, for (too many) action chase scenes, plus the plundering backstory of a self-flagellating zealot albino monk named Silas, played by Paul Bettany. Howard spends way too much time on Silas. I wanted more code-breaking and less monk-eying around.
Audrey Tautou plays Sophie Neveu, the beautiful historian and fledgling symboligyst who is also the victim's granddaughter, who meets Hanks at the beginning of the film in the Louvre. They are summoned there to consult with French police and FBI-like special agents on a murder. They meet standing over the prone, posed body of the elderly murder victim. The victim manages to leave clues that are meant only for Hanks and Tautou. As a matter of fact, the victim took so much time leaving clues for Hanks and Tautou it's possible he went to McDonalds and ate a super-sized meal before going back to the Louvre's parquet floor to die. But it's in the book. Either you suspend your disbelief before seeing the film or you don't. It's best to go in ready to believe anything is possible. Don't think too much. You'll get a headache.
The Da Vinci Code tells us of secret societies within the Catholic Church, centuries and centuries old, and of mysteries the societies are trying to protect -- at any cost, including multiple attempts to kill Hanks and Tautou when they get too close to solving the mysteries (the ultimate mystery being the "Da Vinci Code" itself). Hanks and Tautou are wrongly accused of the original Louvre murder, and find themselves being chased by the bad guys AND the good guys. Jean Reno, who may or may not be a good guy, plays Captain Fache, nick-named "The Boar" by his colleagues because he charges ahead without regard to anything in his way until he gets his man. Reno is a great actor who is under-utilized in a role that demands more.
Then there's Ian McKellan. McKellen makes this film fun to watch. He plays Sir Leigh Teabing, a multimillionaire eccentric British historian and also an expert on codes and symbols, whom Hanks and Tautou meet up with during their quest to solve the code. Introduced well into the film, McKellan plays his role near, but not quite over, the top. His expertise in codes and the mysteries of the Church provide us with most of the knowledge we need to get us to the end of the movie without confusion. I think he had fun with this role, and it shows. His scenes with Hanks also create a wonderful push-and-shove for the book fans and haters, their dialogue at times speaking for both those who believe everything in the book and those that think the book is blasphemy. In fact, the biggest difference between the book and the film is that, in this film, Howard gives a voice to the book-complainers. So there. There is a supporting cast that includes Alfred Molina (Spiderman 2) as Bishop Aringarosa, a Church zealot and mentor to Silas. But this film is all Tom Hanks, with a healthy dose of Tautou and a smaller dose of Reno.
Some people who haven't read Brown's book may be a little confused by all the anagrams, numeric codes and secret societies, because there is not enough time for Howard to present all the proper information. But that doesn't matter. The Da Vinci Code is pure murder mystery, plus chase scenes and European travelogue and cops and bad guys. (Note: Toward the end, look for one very funny, very short scene involving Tautou and Hanks standing by a pond.) All in all, the murders, the mysteries, and the wild European travelogue chases make The Da Vinci Code fun springtime ride for the mind and for the senses.
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