The Da Vinci Code: Critics and controversy aside, The Da Vinci
Code is a verifiable blockbuster. Combine the film's huge
worldwide box-office take with over 100 million copies of Dan
Brown's book sold, and The Da Vinci Code has clearly made the
leap from pop-culture hit to a certifiable franchise (games and
action figures are sure to follow). The leap for any story making
the move from book to big screen, however, is always more
perilous. In the case of The Da Vinci Code, the story is
concocted of such a preous formula of elements that you
wouldn't envy Akiva Goldsman, the screenwriter who was handed a
potentially unfilmable book and asked to make a filmable script
out of it. Goldsman's solution was to have the screenplay follow
the book as closely as possible, with a few needed changes,
including a better ending. The result is a film that actually
makes slightly better entertainment than the book.
So if you're like most of the world, by now you've read the book
and know that it starts out as a murder mystery. While lecturing
in Paris, noted Harvard Professor of Symbology Robert Langdon
(Tom Hanks) is summoned to the Louvre by French help
decipher a bizarre series of clues left at the scene of the
murder of the chief curator, Jacques Sauniere. Enter Sophie Neveu
(Audrey Tautou), gifted cryptologist and Sauniere's
granddaughter. Neveu and Langdon are forced to team up to solve
the mystery, and from there the story is propelled across Europe
as it balloons into a modern-day mini-quest for the Holy Grail,
complete with alternative theories about the life of Christ,
ancient secret societies headed by historical figures like
Leonardo Da Vinci, secret codes, conniving bishops, daring
escapes, car chases, and, of course, a murderous albino monk
controlled by a secret master who calls himself "The Teacher."
Taken solely as a mystery thriller, the movie almost
works--despite some gaping holes--mostly just because it keeps
moving forward at the breakneck pace set in the book. Brown's
greatest trick might have been to have the entire story take
place in a day so that the action is forced to keep going,
despite some necessary pauses for exposition. Hanks and Tautou
are just fine together but not exactly a memorable screen pair;
meanwhile, Sir Ian McKellen's scenery-chewing as pivotal
character Sir Leigh Teabing is just what the film needs to keep
it from taking itself too seriously. In the end, this hit movie
is just like a good roller-coaster ride: try not to think too
much about it--just sit back and enjoy the trip. --Daniel
Vancini, Amazon.com
Subtitles: Hindi, Norwegian, Finnish, English, Danish, Swedish
Region: Region free
Angels & Demons: If the devil is in the details, there's a lot of
wicked fun in Angels & Demons, the sequel (originally a prequel)
to The Da Vinci Code. Director Ron Howard delivers
edge-of-your-pew thrills all over the Vatican, the City of Rome,
and the deepest, dankest catacombs. Tom Hanks is dependably
watchable in his reprised role as Professor Robert Langdon,
summoned urgently to Rome on a matter of utmost urgency--which
happens to coincide with the death of the Pope, meaning the
Vatican is teeming with cardinals and Rome is teeming with the
faithful. A religious offshoot group, calling themselves the
Illuminati, which protested the Catholic Church's prosecution of
scientists 400 years ago, has resurfaced and is making extreme,
and gruesome, terrorist demands.
The film zooms around the city, as Langdon follows clues
embedded in art, architecture, and the very structure of the
Vatican. The cast is terrific, including Ewan McGregor, who is
memorable as a young protégé of the late pontiff, and who seems
to challenge the common wisdom of the Conclave just by being 40
years younger than his fellows when he lectures for church
reform. Stellan Skarsgard is excellent as a gruff commander of
the Swiss Guard, who may or may not have thrown in with the
Illuminati. But the real star of the film is Rome, and its High
Church gorgeousness, with lush cinematography by Salvatore
Totino, who renders the real sky above the Vatican, in a
cataclysmic event, with the detail and majesty of the ceiling of
the Sistine Chapel. --A.T. Hurley, Amazon.com
Subtitles: English, English for the Hard of Hearing, Hindi
Region: Region B
- The Da Vinci Code/ Angels and Demons Double Pack [DVD].