Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
Paul Bettany (left) and Audrey Tautou in a scene from 'The Da Vinci Code'. - CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
RON HOWARD'S The Da Vinci Code is an engaging film. It is a film of ideas with a good serving of mystery and intrigue. While it might not knock one's socks off, it may keep one leaning toward the edge of one's seat.
Normally, this flick is the stuff of which fall movies are made, because it is the kind of movie that urges thought (and thought is usually abolished during summer - and seriously who needs to think in this heat?). Yet, given the popularity of Dan Brown's book, which creates the base for the film, it should be able to hold its own against the monsters of summer.
Howard's direction does not rewrite the director's handbook, but he more than manages to present an intriguing film that is well conceptualised and structured and moves at a good pace.
The film stars Tom Hanks (Robert Langdon), along with Audrey Tautou (Sophie Neveu), Ian McKellen (Sir Leigh Teabing) and Paul Bettany (Silas). So, not surprisingly, performances are a part of the movie's strongest features. Tom Hanks gives a great performance as Langdon, the reasonably mild-mannered historian who is about to fall into more history than he bargained for. This role is a testament to how well Hanks has begun to master nuance.
ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL
Ian McKellan is absolutely delightful. It is quite amazing the stunning roles he has been playing and always manages to deliver such textured difference, from Gandalf to Magneto and now this role. Here, as opposed to his roles in X-Men and The Lord of the Rings, he is smaller than life, but still brilliant. He is an absolute joy to watch.
Paul Bettany gives a stunning performance that his career to date has been leading him toward. He plays the self-flagellating Silas, who is something of a shadowy, though riveting figure. Indeed, creating a deeper understanding of Silas' character would probably have created a richer film, which was more probative of religious conventions.
STIR CONTROVERSY
Indeed, that is exactly what The Da Vinci Code proposes to do. Many of the ideas expressed in The Da Vinci Code were once the stuff for which people were excommunicated from the Catholic Church (especially at the time in history when it was sinful to suggest that the sun did not revolve around the earth). So essentially, it plays with ideas that supposedly form the bedrock of Christian faith and then tries to shake them.
It explores concepts of Christ, Mary Magdalene and other issues about the church. Of course, it deals with religion, not spirituality. Additionally, it doesn't quite shock, at least not if you arr reasonably well-read about history, and there is even a sense that it is attempting to mollify rather than stir controversy.
