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BlackChampagne -- no longer new; improvement also in question.: Movie Review: The DaVinci Code



Saturday, May 20, 2006  

Movie Review: The DaVinci Code


Malaya and me ended up at The DaVinci Code on Friday, more or less by accident. We'd been considering seeing the film, but the 15% positive score on RT was giving us, as semi-rational humans, pause. We actually tried to just go out to lunch, but I got up late and Malaya went to the gym just after noon and by the time we got to the mall it was nearly 2:30, and Todai was about to close.

They do the Chinese/Japanese buffet, and you can enter the restaurant up until 2:30 for lunch, but they clear all the food out at that point to clean and cook and prepare for dinner (which begins at 5ish), so you're limited to eating what's on your plate. Which is not a real good deal, at a buffet. So we wandered the mall a bit and looked at $100 shox I didn't want quite enough to actually buy, and then decided to see a movie.

The DaVinci Code was playing at 3 at a nearby mall, so we drove lickety-split and got there in time to pick up a popcorn and water to tide us over until lunch-become-dinner. I'd rant about the concession prices, but whatever; it's not like the ludicrously high prices at movie theaters are news to anyone. Still, while waiting in line to pay $8.50 for 15 cents of popcorn and 10 cents of water, I found myself reflecting -- you know how after natural disasters there are laws to prevent unscrupulous merchants from gouging desperate survivors for gas and water and other necessities? Would those laws apply to movie theaters? Because honestly, in a world where 24 packs of water bottles are $6, doesn't $3.50 for one small bottle cross some sort of line?

Pity Friday was highlighted by a tsunami or earthquake or locust swarm, or I might have gotten some change back for my $10.

Anyway, as for the movie... eh. To the scores.

The DaVinci Code, 2006
Script/Story: 5
Acting/Casting: 7
Action: NA
Combat Realism: NA
Humor: NA
Horror: NA
Eye Candy: 6
Fun Factor: 3
Replayability: 5
Overall: 5
I didn't hate it and I wasn't exactly bored, but it didn't do much for me. Malaya enjoyed it more than I, though she was far from excited by it, and basically it just sort of was. The movie added nothing to the book, it had no suspense or tension, the gorgeous settings and artwork wasn't shown off to any great effect, and none of the performances were remarkable. Workmanlike, faithful to the novel, informative, but utterly unremarkable. I would have almost certainly gained more enjoyment from simply rereading the book, and the snacks would certainly have been better.

It reminded me of the LotR movies, in a way. I hate to make the comparison of this film to those, or Brown's book to Tolkien's masterpieces, but here's what I mean. Peter Jackson and his writing partners took the source material and remained faithful to it, while making changes to improve the plot and characters. Unnecessary stuff was jettisoned, minor plot points that reflected on the characters were pumped up, and overall the movies were the books, but improved, and with visuals. The DaVinci Code movie isn't awful, but it's not any better than the book, and the screenplay changes don't improve it, or really make any substantial difference. It's not awful; it's just a lost opportunity that might have really been made to shine in more competent hands.

Speaking of the book, the main thing I learned from The DaVinci Code movie is how little I remembered of the novel. I misremembered everything, and had combined events from Angels and Demons with The DaVinci Code, since I kept waiting for things to happen that never did, and I remember the book having far more puzzle-solving and thriller action and suspense and intrigue. The movie seemed like it retained every bit of the whole Jesus/Holy Grail/Mary Magelene/Royal Blood business, while compressing and de-thrillering all the murder and chase stuff and mystery that gave the book it's pulpy-but-compelling and fast-moving suspense. So you had lectures on art and history and religion, which I enjoyed, but the action and suspense elements that were supposed to tie the scholarly information together were flaccid.

Malaya says there weren't any more plot and action things in the novel and that I'm thinking of Angels and Demons, and she may be right, but I recall thinking that The DaVinci Code novel was a blatant rip off/reuse of the plot of Angels and Demons, but how could that be so if the movie really preserved all the action of the book... when the movie didn't have any action.

As it turns out, my review reaction is nearly identical to the critical consensus, much to my disappointment. The DaVinci Code has a woeful 19% fresh score on RT, with a 4.7/10 average score from 144 tabulated reviews. The story is much the same over on Metacritic, where it's at 49% approval. No one really hates it, but no one loves it either, it's getting a ton of 1.5-2/4 star reviews, and lots of comments that it's basically boring and talky.

I didn't mind the talking, since I find the history of the early Christian Church interesting, but the plot wasn't good enough to keep my interest the rest of the time, and the characters were so vanilla and paper-thin and one-dimensional (and true to Brown's novel) that I never really cared about them one way or the other. So I gave The DaVinci Code movie a 5, the book a 6, and Angels and Demons book a 7.5. Read that book, if you can only touch one of these three properties.

I haven't heard anything about it, but I wouldn't mind seeing a movie version of A&D. It would have potential but I don't think a movie of it would really work. A&D had a great, fast-paced, ticking-bomb plot, and fun mystery solving with ancient statues and architectural clues and such, but there was also a ton of long, slow, lectury stuff about the collision and agreement between science and religion, and I see that aspect being elaborated on in the movie version and dragging the whole process to a crawl. There also might be too many plot twists and betrayals and absurdities, especially towards the end, where things get completely ridiculous with anti-matter explosions and crazy dudes trying to seize their spot as the Pope, and so on.

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Comments:

"Because honestly, in a world where 24 packs of water bottles are $6, doesn't $3.50 for one small bottle cross some sort of line?"

Well, unlike disaster victims, you aren't forced to buy this stuff. You can always buy them before going to the movie (Granted, not possible with popcorn) and then take them with you.

They only gouge those who choose to be gouged.


 

Bringing in outside food and drink is 'against the policy' of theaters, around here anyway.

Not that people don't sneak in candy and drinks...but doing so requires a large purse...


 

I'm getting withdrawal symptoms, you aren't posting enough.


 

well in theory, the wise man would stock up on water and food and such (though it's hard to do that with gas) before a disaster. Then again, that's coming from someone who didn't even do that before a movie.

We usually take a snack along the lines of a miniature candy bar or 2, but in this case we went out to lunch first; we just didn't eat because the buffet was about to close. And from there we went straight to the theater, hurrying to get there in time for the 3:20 showing. And we needed food since we were missing lunch, or delaying it by 3 hours, at least.


 

And to Lanth... I'm being lazy. Afte the pre-e3 rush of hgl site stuff, and the post e3 catching up, I've done little but some HGL forum stuff and news stuff the past few days, with 4-6 hours of work on the novel each night. It's been nice catching up on surfing, playing some online games (and hearts), etc. I even read a couple of books on my sort of vacation, and with the novel done (aside from endless reviewing of early chapters) I'm looking forward to doing some more reading, after not opening a book for like 2 months.

I've got Feast of Crows sitting on my desk now as motivation to finish editing chapters 8 and 9 and the epilogue, after when I can say I really am done, with the rough draft at least.


 

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