Movie Review: The DaVinci Code

[sarahmichelef]

I think I'm the only person on the PLANET who has not read the book.  As such, I went into the movie tabula rasa. 

I found it to be enjoyable.  I HAVE read Angels and Demons, so I was familiar with Langdon as a character and had some idea of the genre.  Since I hadn't seen the book, I couldn't quibble with changes, though the major one (making her REALLY the last of the bloodline, rather than the last GENERATION of the bloodline).  M and my inlaws thought it dragged in places, which didn't bother me - quite possibly because I was doing Sudokus the whole time, so when it got slow, I just devoted more cycles to the puzzles than to the movie.

All in all, definitely entertaining, definitely worth seeing.  I continue to have the utmost respect for Tom Hanks - he was not how I had envisioned Langdon, but it worked (and I never thought "oooh, Forest Gump!").

Really, I have just one thing to say.  I want to have a movie marathon of DaVinci and Dogma.  Because, really, why not?  I totally saw the "twist" coming - I had been assuming pretty much since Sophie's relationship to the curator and the curator's status as a part of the Priory were revealed that she was the Last Scion, as it were.  Then I need to read Foucault's Pendulum.  (M suggested also reading and/or watching The Name of the Rose for completeness' sake.)

Comments

[fitzw.livejournal.com]

I think I'm the only person on the PLANET who has not read the book.

Nope, you're not. ;-)

Haven't read Angels and Demons, either.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Dogma ROCKED! "I am the Metatron - why'd you do that? You ruined my suit!"

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Not only have I not read the DaVinci Code, I hadn't even heard of Angels and Demons. Been reading other stuff by Julian May, MZB, A MacCaffrey, and then there's the historical research stuff and the fiber and weaving stuff....

[a-c-fiorucci.livejournal.com]

I haven't read it either.

Whatever you do, avoid the audiobook. It makes the whole book even worse. (After ~3 chapters, I was desparate for an editor. Preferably one with a chainsaw.

Peregrinning may have the Eco books, if you don't have copies, and I'm sure would love to discuss them. They aren't my style either, or weren't the last time I tried to read them.

[irihs.livejournal.com]

I think they should have skipped the whole book thing and gone straight to the movie. I haven't seen the movie (and don't have a burning desire to), but it really sounds like it makes a better movie than book. I'm much more forgiving of things like bad writing and plot iffiness in movie thrillers than I am in any book.

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

i tore my way through Angels and Demons and TheDvC. I'm easy when it comes to plots, and was enthralled and read 'em both in less than 24 hours. On rereads, that's when I noticed the craptastic writing style. He does need an editor with a pair.

The main quibble I had with the movie is that last half hour, when they crammed in a bunch of plot that had been more or less spread out through most of the book. I do love Audrey Tautou, however.

[brewergnome.livejournal.com]

No you're not. I haven't read any of his books because I hated his writing style.

I will rent hte movie with Erik.

[studentnurse.livejournal.com]

I thought the movie was abysmal. I read the book, and enjoyed it for what it was (truly found it unputdownable), though I thought the whole concept was really stupid and unbelievable (since when is the Catholic Church down on the sacred feminine? they are the kings of sacred feminine, at least Judeo-Christianly), and of course there's the utter idiocy of having a supposed expert on history continually refer to Leonardo da Vinci as "da Vinci", which is the first lesson everyone learns in intro art history (you call him Leonardo).

But the movie, trying to avoid supposed controversy, had Langdon espousing doubt about the whole coverup deal--which makes it even less believable, because the story depends on the reader being sucked into that.