There seems to be a Da Vinci Code fever. Everyone I know in SoC watched the movie in its opening weekend. Almost 2 years after I read the book, I caught the movie yesterday evening with a friend. The story of the movie can be read from my post on the book, I won’t repeat it here. With the movie now released, all the controversy and debate should hopefully come to an end.
The movie was a bit long. Tom Hanks with his long hairstyle is (thankfully) watchable as symbologist Robert Langdon. His acting is mostly wooden. This is not to blame him, but his role doesn’t require much anyway other than explaining the history of the Church and the symbols. The surprises in the movie were Ian McKellen (Magneto from X-Men) and Paul Bettany (as Silas). Ian as the very-English Grail researcher Teabing was a delight to watch. The movie was a bit dull starting off, but from then on it was good. Just as in the book, there are no dull moments, the puzzles keep on coming. I wish they’d shown a bit more info on Leonardo da Vinci himself. It was good to see the various paintings, monuments and places from the book onscreen. I don’t know how the movie will be appreciated by viewers who haven’t read the book. I found it interesting and watchable.