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Credits:
Director
Ron Howard
Writers
Akiva Goldsman
Dan Brown
Staring
Tom Hanks
Audrey Tautou
Ian McKellen
Jean Reno

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The Da Vinci Code Movie Review
By Alex: (alex@alexhauck.com) 06/08/06

SPOILER WARNING:
The following review contains my views on both the plot and ending of the movie and the book. If you have not read the book or seen the movie you might not what to read this review.

I know most movies cannot live up to the expectations placed on them from a good book mainly due to time constraints. I also understand that in order to make that movie fit into its time constraint that changes have to be made while other pieces have to be left out entirely. While the movie (for the most part) was entertaining to be completely up front and honest I did not like any of the book to script edits that were done.

Captain Fache's character was changed from a hard integrator who was a Roman Catholic Christian into a blind member of Opus Dei following orders. So instead of him following clues and gaining insight to discover that Langdon was not Sauniere's killer, he had a mandate from the begging to get Langdon.

Bishop Aringarosa's character was changed as well from a person who I would say lost his way trying to keep Opus Dei in power to what I took as the villain of the movie. In the book the Catholic Church was no longer going to recognize Opus Dei, so Aringarosa was persuaded by the teacher to help him track down the Holy Grail so he could in essence blackmail the church. He had no idea that the teacher would be using Silas to murder people. In the movie Aringarosa was part of a secret sect of the church whose purpose is to hunt down the Grail and destroy it, and the people that know about it.

Yet another change I was not particularly fond about was the fact that Sauniere was not Sohpie's real grandfather, but just a member of the Priory of Sion who took her in to watch out for her. Plus the whole ending was changed where Langdon had to actually spell it out for Sohpie instead of her realizing it on her own. They also left Sophie's brother up to interpretation at the end as well.

I'm a big fan of Tom Hanks, and why I don't think he did a bad job playing Langdon, it defiantly wasn't one of his stronger performances. The cast as a whole was solid, but I do have to say the Ian McKellen nailed Leigh Teabing perfectly.

I went into this film prepared not to like it as much as the book, for obvious reason, but I had no idea that they would have butchered it as much as they did. I understand the time issues but I felt that they changed a lot of the story and didn't really need to. I still enjoyed it, but I think there would have been a few places I would have been lost if I hadn't read the book. The performances from the actors I thought were good, even though Hanks didn't bring his A game, and would recommend the movie for those who have the time and money, but if you don't get to the movies that often I would pick something else.

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