The Da Vinci Code

Though Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code will never be mistaken for high art, the novel was, at the very least, consistently interesting and generally entertaining. And while this adaptation – written by Akiva Goldsman – contains many of the same beats and plot twists as Brown’s book, the film never quite becomes anything more than a sporadically engaging but mostly dull murder mystery. Tom Hanks stars as Robert Langdon, a top symbologist who is unwittingly recruited by a grizzled French cop (Jean Reno) to assist in the mysterious death of one of the Louvre’s top curators. Along with said curator’s daughter, Sophie (Audrey Tautou), Robert soon finds himself caught up in a far-reaching conspiracy revolving around a religious coverup of epic proportions. The Da Vinci Code‘s been directed by Ron Howard, who imbues the movie with an almost maddeningly somber vibe – refusing to allow even a hint of levity to enter the proceedings, despite the fact that Brown’s novel was actually rife with humorous asides and genuinely exciting action sequences. Howard – collaborating once again with Cinderella Man cinematographer Salvatore Totino – apes the austere look and feel of that Russell Crowe drama, which immediately proves to be an incongruous match with the source material (the movie sure looks nice, however). The film is, consequently, not nearly as engrossing as one might’ve expected, and primarily moves at a pace that can most accurately be referred to as deliberate. And although Howard and Goldsman waste absolutely no time in thrusting the viewer into the action, the almost complete lack of character development makes it virtually impossible to actually care about Robert and Sophie’s quest. That Hanks delivers an atypically charmless performance doesn’t help matters; while the actor certainly isn’t bad in the role, he transforms Robert Langdon into a figure that’s overly grave and far from engaging. Likewise, Tautou quickly proves to be the absolute wrong choice for the role of Sophie – as the actress is simply unable to convincingly infuse the character with an appropriate mix of confidence and seriousness (her ridiculously thick French accent doesn’t do her any favors, either). The only performance that really works here is Paul Bettany’s turn as Silas, the killer albino monk hot on Robert and Sophie’s trail. Though he’s not given a whole lot of screen time, Bettany dominates the proceedings and easily remains the most intriguing and effective aspect of the movie. In terms of the book’s supposed “controversial” content, Goldsman has left most of it intact – although he does play it safe by turning Robert into something of a skeptic (an element that certainly wasn’t contained within Brown’s novel). And ultimately, it’s that sort of refusal to take risks – combined with a distinct sense of blandness – that sinks The Da Vinci Code.

** out of ****