REV: The Da Vinci Code

It's been a full twenty-four hours since I saw this movie and I still can't believe my eyes. Ron Howard took me on a shocker I couldn't forget, and exposed me to new ideas I just can't get out of my head. In this blockbuster smash-hit adaptation of Dan Brown's bestselling book, we see renowned Harvard university symbologist Robert Langdon (Forrest Gump) and beautiful cryptology agent Sophie Neveu (Amelie) sift through various riddles and circumstances following a chain of events set in motion after Sophie's grandfather Jacques Sauniere, the curator of the Louvre, is found murdered on the floor of the museum. Before I begin to delve into the complicated and superbly-executed plot structure, let me first touch on some of the characterization choices. Ian McKellen, who played the role of Gandalf, was by far the most talented on the screen. I enjoyed the scene in which he beat the albino monk up with his canes. He looked really comfortable with the blocking—almost as if he'd done so all his life. This wouldn't surprise me. McKellen is known for his method acting: he spent weeks bending spoons with his mind before taking on the role of Magneto in Bryan Singer's X-Men. As Sophie Neveu, Amelie's French accent is almost perfect—one can only wonder where the producers managed to find a linguistics coach adept enough to train the actors in commanding the subtle nuances of the language. As Langdon, however, Gump is slightly flat. His performance as Langdon is good, to be sure, but it's a step down from some of his more memorable roles in classics of modern cinema (You've Got Mail, Big). Still, Gump manages to capture the frustration of the character effectively, delivering his lines with wide-open eyes and a brow that's knit with worry a good eighty percent of the film (the other twenty percent he's spitting out awkward dialogue the screenwriter felt needed to be added in order to better please the Langdon/Neveu shippers: ["I never met a girl who knew that much about a cryptex"]). For the most part, though, the story stays true to the novel, with the exception of minor details cut to make room for the rousing family reunion written into the last fifteen minutes of the film. I was a bit confused, however, on why so many members of the Catholic church encouraged the boycott of this film when it had so many religious undertones—the ending of the movie even features the main character kneeling in prayer above the tomb of Christ's wife! Although I'm still not sure what all the fuss was about, I am sure of one thing: speaking on behalf of the 98% of Americans that didn't read the book: The Da Vinci Code is a winner, and I give it four thumbs up (beat that, Ebert). Speaking on behalf of those that did: there's always the sequel.