Da Vinci Code Review !
Hi, Let me tell u, DVC is worth 100 Rs. Director Ron Howard has made nothing new but the carbon copy of the Dan Brown best seller. It’s a visual treat for those who haven’t read the book and for those who could barely watch the Jesus fibs.
About the film, it could have been a better version if the director was a bit more patient. He just wanted to finish it off in a racy fashion so that nothing is lost in contrary to the book. But he should have thought that a motion picture is in a different league altogether and that the slower you narrate the closer you make the film taut. Anyways, its worth a watch.
The film rolls on when the curator in the Museum of Louvre is chased and killed by Silas, the messenger of God. Wow, Silas is a little spooky creature and full marks to the costume designer for that. Langdon (Tom Hanks) will be called by the French police as part of the investigation and he turns out to be a suspect in the murder. Though the introduction of Robert Langdon is different from that in the book, it’s done so as to give Hanks the shades of the arrival of a “hero”. When he witnesses the corpse and finds some chaos in the whole scene, he is helped by Sophie who knows that the dumping of Langdon from the horizon is nothing but a ploy by Fache, who is the cop.
Langdon unwinds an anagram, “Oh Dacronian Devil Oh Lame Saint” which is written just beside the body by the curator himself. He come to know that its devised from Leonardo Da vinci and The Mona Lisa. This whole scene swift passes in a matter of seconds and that I thought was a big mistake. Comeon, u r talking about none other than Leonardo Da vinci and his famous painting and u must have given ample time for the audience to digest. Langdon then has a look at the artifact itself when he finds another anagram (The Madonna of Rocks), which brings him the key to a secret account of a bank in Brussels. What is the key all about? How is this related to the murder? Who is the boss of Silas? All these unfold in the second half.
To be honest, the first half is a bit lagging, thanks to the raciness in code breaking. The movie will soon be riveting when Langdon and co arrives in London and to be precise, in front of the tomb of Issac Newton. Ron Howard, at times reminds the audience why he is an Academy award winner. The mass scenes are picturised in an effective and well etched out manner. The Back Ground score (Hans Zimmer- Gladiator fame) is exceptional especially when the film enters its climax. The beauty of the Rosslyn Chapel is well paved out and one would wonder about the very existence of such a place. The last scene when Langdon stands in the Louvre keeping his left palm on his right and looking down the pyramids is simply awesome. He just waits n waits and senses the artistic beauty of the place where Mary Megdelene is rested. Yes, he waits beneath the inverted pyramid and a pat on the backs of the cameraman and the director for carving it into an unforgettable moment in the movie.
I just want to raise a few queries on the movie whilst some trimming was done in the story.
1. What has happened to Sophie’s brother?
2. Till the end, the Curator’s sacred ritual, because of which Sophie had a fight with him, is not well justified. The man-woman symbol and the chalice should have been explained with much more sincerity.
3. Why did they run with the script in the first half?
4. Where has the romance gone?
Inspite of all these flaws, Da Vinci Code is one must watch movie in recent history, whether you are a firm believer that the Christ was divine or not! It just doesn’t matter. Watch it atleast for Tom, coz he fits in the character like anything though he is no larger than life. Sohpie’s English with French dialect is a treat for ur ears. Newys, go for it.
