Harvard professor and symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is approached at an event in Paris by a police detective who requests his help in solving a murder that has taken place in one of the galleries of the Louvre, as the victim has a series of strange markings on his body, and Langdon is believed to be one of the only people in Paris at the time who can make sense of the markings.
Langdon agrees, and soon finds himself on the run from detective Bezu Fache (Jean Reno), accompanied by police cryptographer Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou). Their running leads them through a series of clues and puzzles, eventually bringing them to Grail scholar Leigh Teabing (Ian McKellen).
Pursued at every turn by Fache – and also a crazed religious fanatic known only as Silas (Paul Bettany), the two are constantly changing direction, and running somewhere else to the next clue, or just to escape being killed for the information they are slowly gathering.
I’ll leave the plot there, as there are so many twists and turns throughout the film’s nearly 3-hour running time, that anything else I say would spoil things too much.
As an adaptation, the script by Akiva Goldsman from Brown’s novel works well. As a film, however, there is just too much going on all the time. I realise that in the novel there is a lot going on all the time, but to have it all in the film does feel a little overcrowded at times.
Of course, given the worldwide success of the novel, a film version was of course inevitable.
The cast are all fantastic in their roles, the standouts being Hanks and Tautou, whose on-screen chemistry is electric in all the right places. Their personalities and backgrounds complement each other perfectly, and it seems the two belong together for this adventure.
Ian McKellen also gives quite an impressive performance as Teabing, an interesting character who has set himself up in a very antagonistic position to the Roman Catholic Church (who incidentally were very scathing in their dislike of the novel, which probably only increased worldwide sales!). In fact, the character of Teabing can be summed up in one of his lines of dialogue: “As long as there has been a one true God, there has been killing in His name.”
Another performer who shines in this film is Alfred Molina, playing a bishop by the name of Manuel Aringarosa. But of course, Molina shines in just about everything he does, so as soon as I saw him on screen, I knew I was in for a treat.
Ron Howard’s direction works well, but is nothing spectacular. One gets the impression that any director who has directed a fast-paced thriller before could have pulled off exactly the same result; there is not really anything uniquely Howard-esque about this film, not in the same way as one might find in his other projects.
I would say the same about the cinematography and the music. The music is composed by Hans Zimmer – and clearly so, for those who are familiar with his signature sound – but could equally have been composed by anybody else.
As mentioned earlier, the script is virtually flawless, at least as far as the original source material is concerned. The pacing and dialogue are just as tight and full as that of the novel, which was an entertaining read. Though as also mentioned earlier, to translate this all directly to the screen seems a bit much to me. It is difficult to see where the creative team could have possibly made cuts, as everything in there needs to be there for anything to make sense, so I’m not sure what could have been done about this. However, I will say that it was a good thing I was watching this on DVD, because I needed to pause every 30 minutes or so and take a break, not because the film was long, but because it was full and my brain needed a rest!
I would not advise seeing this film for its historical or factual information, because there is very little of that. Most of Teabing’s views can be discounted purely on the basis of evidentiality or common sense.
I would however advise seeing this film for its entertainment and thrill value. It doesn’t let up even for a moment, and you will certainly be entertained (just not informed).
6 out of 10.
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