What they neglect to point out is that Hanks and Neveu never laugh and rarely smile.
#IS THE DA VINCI CODE MOVIE BASED ON A TRUE STORY MOVIE#
This is what critics mean when they complain of the lack of “chemistry” between the two and describe the movie as humorless. His behavior is so politically correct one is tempted to think that the movie is really “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and raises the question of who stole Tom Hanks and left the pod? There are no compliments, no wisecracks, no arch glances. In the movie, Robert Langdon acts as if he is Sophie’s teacher, or her older brother, or simply knows that he is too old to flirt with her and is embarrassed to show any manly feelings whatsoever. Whatever the reason, Hanks looks bad, acts robotically, and remains at arm’s length from Tautou.
It’s difficult to say whether it’s Hanks’s interpretation of the role or Ron Howard’s stifling direction.
Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon is a disaster. For all practical purposes, the movie is nothing more than a lecture about how Christianity stole the “real” Jesus-visually pretty, but deadly dull. Furthermore, Howard fails to substitute a cinematic cleverness sharp enough to entertain the audience. Other than that, the pacing slavishly imitates the book but lacks the book’s tension. The most exciting-and best filmed-sequence in the movie-ensues when Sophie careens her mini car in reverse down a crowded street. The scenes lack narrative and personal tension. Consequently, one of the problems with the movie is that the whole is less than the sum of its too many parts. Sometimes we’re in ancient Rome, sometimes we’re in France, sometimes we’re in England. The revelations they unearth there plunge them ever deeper into the mystery of the true origin of the Holy Grail.Ĭinematically, the film looks good, but Ron Howard depends too much on documentary flashbacks to fill the backstory. Their investigation carries them from France to England. They seek out Leigh Teabing ( Ian McKellen), an expert in the Gnostic gospels and all things conspiratorial. In the process, he’s accused of murder and goes on the run with the lovely Sophie Neveu ( Audrey Tautou). Robert Langdon ( Tom Hanks) is a professor of “symbology” who stumbles onto a 2,000 year old conspiracy. In spite of the millions spent on advertising, I suspect that by next weekend the negative word-of-mouth reviews will sink the movie faster than the “Poseidon” is currently tanking at the box office.įirst, for those unfamiliar with the book, here’s the plot. This is the headline that should precede every review of “The Da Vinci Code” which could possibly be the biggest box office disappointment since “King Kong”. “The Jesus Seminar”-Who do they really speak for? Answer “The Jesus Seminar”-Are their criticisms of the gospels valid? Answer How can the Bible be infallible if it was written by fallible humans? Answer Has science disproved the miracles associated with Jesus Christ? AnswerĪrchaeology-Have any burial sites been found for the people involved in Christ’s life and death? Answer Trinity-How can one God be three persons? AnswerĬharacter-Is Christ’s character consistent with his high claims? Answer If Jesus was the Son of God, why did He call Himself the Son of Man? Answer
Was Jesus Christ God, manifest in human form? Answer If Jesus is God, how could he die? If Jesus died on the cross, then how can he be alive today? Answer Is Jesus Christ a man, or is he God? Answer Is THE DA VINCI CODE “the most serious assault against Christianity”? Answer