Ledger

Issue date: 6/2/06 Section: Arts & Entertainment

The DaVinci Code was released May 19. Directed by Ron Howard, starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tatou, the movie has a running time of 149 minutes.

The opening scenes of The DaVinci Code show suspense-filled promise, as an albino on a mission stalks an elderly man around the Louvre. Gore and shock follow, and the setting abruptly changes to an oddly-coiffed Tom Hanks in front of the mother of all PowerPoint presentations. And from there, things get long-winded.

To Ron Howard's credit, the movie version of Dan Brown's 2003 breakout bestseller conveys nearly all the information contained in the 454-page novel. While the book moves lithely through the alt-history of Christianity in the context of one man's quest to exonerate himself of the murder of a curator, the movie ponderously belabors the same points, with the aid of digitally enhanced photography and special effects.

To remind audiences that this is indeed big-time Hollywood, Howard adds some crashes, shocks, and gore. Despite momentary surprises, the movie fails to attain true "suspense" status. Those moments do, however, succeed in waking the odd sleeper in the audience.

Tom Hanks was not my ideal vision of Professor Robert Langdon. As I read Dan Brown's book, the face of William Hurt always popped into my brain as the form of the cerebral professor thrown into a mystery with heretic implications. As I watched the film, I was relieved to see Tom Hanks pull off the role, though I don't think he was anywhere near his Philadelphia or Forrest Gump game.

It's not that he doesn't try with the script he is given. Rather, the script is either sleep-inspiringly wordy or action-driven. And "thinking" is a pretty hard action to convey, although Howard's trendy special effects try valiantly to spell out the thought process for the audience.

Possibly the best action sequence of the movie is played by Audrey Tatou. Dodging the cops, she whizzes through the narrow streets of Paris in an odd, uber-little car. Backwards. Unfortunately, the dialogue she's given does nothing to showcase her acting abilities. Throughout the movie, we are continuously reminded that, despite some commentary giving credence to matriarchal cultures, this is a man's world, and men should do most of the talking while the women sit idly by being inscrutable.

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