There are many who say that the movie is never as good as the book, sadly, as this The Da Vinci Code movie review will show, they are probably right. The movie had all the makings to become an enormous success. Tom Hanks as the leading man, an Oscar winning director, and based on an incredibly popular best selling book. The creators of this film must have taken that for granted as they forgot to make this a good movie.
The story is disjointed and none of the mystery and puzzle solving the book was famous for transferred onto the big screen. The screenplay is weighed down by pointless exposition, never giving the audience any character development. Details that where small in the book were made huge in the movie, and very important sections of the book were either fast forwarded through or left out all together.
Critical plot points are “included” via flashback scenes that I have no idea how someone who has never read the books is possibly supposed to understand. The character development of the albino monk was on of the most fascinating storylines in the book. Besides one or two unexplained flashbacks this was completely ignored in the film.
When a new clue or riddle presents itself there is no explanation to how the character solves it, it is almost like they are struck by divine intervention when figuring it out. The book was a RIDDLE MYSTERY. The movie doesn’t even come close to having that feel. I want to feel the suspense and anxiety the characters go through when facing a seemingly unsolvable mystery. Instead we had people standing around until the cartoon light bulb appeared over their head, so the story could continue.
The biggest testament to how poorly the script was written was the awkwardness of Tom Hank’s character. I have never seen Hanks give a poor performance, but even he seem baffled at the directions this movie took. It takes a great deal of work to make Tom Hanks look bad, but “The Da Vinci Code” tried very hard. Instead of being able to focus on the story, I was left feeling sorry for Hanks for having to put up with such a piece of garbage.
While the movie was pretty to watch, it lacked any substance or intrigue. The people behind the scenes must have become incredibly lazy to make such a bad translation. With the book being such a huge success there was obviously room for a huge letdown, but this film crashed straight through even that floor. If you have never read the book there is a chance you will be entertained, but if you have, expect a huge disappointment.
