Da Vinci Code

Dear oh me.

It was a friends birthday this week and a movie was the appropriate thing to do, so as it was the opening day for the Da Vinci Code, we went Gold Class.

Now let me tell you that the newly revamped Gold Class at the Jam Factory here in Melbourne is very glam, and worth the trip. The food is WAY too expensive for what it is, but a charming bottle of bubbles fixed that right up. Or at least dulled the pain.

Another result is my usual incisive film review may be a little wobbly today.

The only way you could have avoided knowing something of the Da Vinci Code is to have hidden under a rock. Dan Browns novel has stirred up HUGE amounts of media attention, and the marketing folks have jumped on that controversy band wagon for the movie. Between the failed law suit by the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and every Christian sect and its dog needing to make comment, its been a bonanza of free media.

Personally I don't see it. the book wasn't THAT good. I guess people just love a conspiracy.

The film of the book is also OK. Nicely shot. Well directed and workman like acting from all of the cast. Tom Hanks is a little wooden as Langdon (but then Langdon is wooden),  Jean Reno a little caricatured as the french cop Fache and Ian McKellen pretty much phones it in as Teabing. Its nice to see Audrey Tautou again, and in a role so different to Amélie, but the film doesn't ask much of her.

Clearly a lot of money was spent on the film. It looks beautiful, although I cant say I got anything extra from the cinematography or the production design. They really just supported the main story without giving much additional depth to it.

Missing for me was the feeling of an almost all powerful 2000 year old conspiracy, that would stop at nothing. The plot really seemed confined to the limits of what was on screen. This is almost the complete opposite of the film V for Vendetta which clearly has too much outside the realms of the screen.

Or maybe I am a cranky bastard who is never happy. Thats been suggested before. 

The film doesn't stray from the book, so don't expect surprises. A few minor details are skimmed, but I get the feeling the book was written with a screen play in mind, so there was not much needed to be removed.

All up, you are not going to miss anything if this one gets saved for a DVD night at home, but if  you feel the need to join in the "experience", or want a low mental engagement date movie (so you can concentrate on the groping) then pop a long to the cinema. For me, the bottle of bubbles was what made the day.