Reviewing Movies

Even the greatest film makers lay the occasional egg and in The Da Vinci Code Ron Howard has created a genuine turkey. Tom Hanks as Professor Robert Langdon has the bookish professor down cold, pity the high point of his performance is the opening illustrated lecture on symbolism. Pity John Malkovich wasn't available to play Silas; Sir Ian McKellan as Sir Teabing steals the show when he finally makes his appearance. Until that point even the chase scenes seem to be boring. The screen writers should have taken warning from the reviews of Dan Brown's book and stuck less closely to that clunky text. Dialogues one can skim over in the book fall flat on their faces on screen. The location shots are magnificent, in fact they frequently upstage the actors who are often made to look like just so much more set decoration. I'll have to watch this movie once more sometime just to make sure I wasn't being too harsh when I wrote this review—but I'll have to make sure I am better rested to ensure I don't fall asleep while I'm doing it.