Yesterday El Jefe and a friend accompanied me to see The Da Vinci Code. Yes, I know. I should have gone to see it sooner since I taught that class on it and blogged about it and all. But who wants to fight opening weekend crowds-- and then after that stuff happened. I'm not much of a movie goer, and probably wouldn't have made the effort but for the aforementioned activities. Plus I promised my class we'd get together and discuss the movie in a couple of weeks.
So here is QG's Random Review:
* Ian McClellan is so over the top he's almost humorous in his role as Professor Teabring. I bet they are missing some scenery because I swear I saw him chewing it up. He should get this year's award as Melodrama Man. So Hammy the Con of Ian!!
* Tom Hanks and the actress playing Sophie Neveu seem very subdued by comparison and there's no hint of the sexual attraction between these characters portrayed in the book. The Sophie of the book was a more assertive character.
* After a couple of hours, watching the main characters chase the codes seemed like watching an endless game of scrabble. But in scrabble you don't get special effects to help you out!
* The Robert Langdon character is more sympathetic to the church and less convinced of Prof. Teabring's bogus view of early Christian history than he is in the book.
* In another nod to Christian sensibilities (and the truth), when Prof. Teabring cites the Gospel of Philip passage about how Christ used to kiss Mary Magdalene, he is interrupted before he can say "lips"--which is right where the original manuscript also has a big hole in it.
* Some of the objectionable bits of the book were left out but hinted at. Case in point--the friend who went with us had not read the book and wondered what the "secret ritual" that Sophie's grandfather was involved in that she stumbled onto. (It was the practice of "sacred sex", according to the book which described it in some detail.)
*Paul Bettany, the actor playing Silas, the albino "Opus Dei Monk", is really, really creepy. Where did he come from? And both the organization Opus Dei and its members are depicted as ruthless (and maybe perverted) in their goal of exterminating the Priory of Sion and its "secret." That is similar to the book portrayal.
*The "flashbacks" of Catholic Church history are uniformly heinous.
*As a thriller, it is mediocre because there are parts of it that drag and had me checking my watch. By the way, the background music is hokey.
*It's long--Babs left to drive back to Austin when we went to the movie and got there before it was over. (El Jefe picked up her email on his blackberry.) But I didn't get as restless as I thought I would.
UPDATE: If you want to read a screamingly funny, but accurate, review of the movie (thanks to Revabi for the tip!) then check the one by The New Yorker's Anthony Lane.
It's just a movie, true, but the plot fuses fact and fiction about the origins of the New Testament and the development of the Christian church in the same confusing way that the book did.
I still like Tom Hanks, though! Maybe he can do a Forest Gump sequel now: "Church is Like a Box of Chocolates."
Thanks Grace...now I really want to see this movie...ha ha!!
ReplyDeleteActually, I want to see the movie so I will know more about the controversy, not actually reading the book. But I've heard so much about how boring and uneventful it is. This even came out before it opened. They gave it an awful rating at the film festival it was at before opening in America.
To go...or not to go...That is the question.
Or maybe it should be:
To waste $7 or not to waste $7. :)
I saw it this weekend too and yes it was really slow!
ReplyDeleteI did notice, as you mentioned, that they softened some of their anti-Church stances a bit.
One thing that's most unfortunate about this book/movie (that most people don't seem to be mentioning) is that in the tradition of The Princess Bride, The Matrix, and Me, Myself, and Irene (to name just three) the character with albinism is portrayed in a very offensive way.
You'd never know it, but there are real people with albinism out there (one in my family, for example) who aren't sadistic, masochistic, poorly adjusted, or in possession of strange powers.
Well, I love Ian McKellen (which is how you spell it), even in X-Men and even in The DaVinci Code.
ReplyDeleteAnd Paul Bettany is creepy as Silas because he is a good actor. You may find him as a cute tennis player in "Wimbledon," as the thoughtful doctor in "Master and Commander," or as John Nash's roommate in "A Beautiful Mind."
I saw the movie with a friend who hated how weak Sophie was by comparison to the book. I just think the whole thing is pretty silly anyway.
I like watching Tom Hanks but the movie lacked the pace of the book where one clue led to another. I don't think the movie was good enough to go see again.
ReplyDeleteDon't go see MI:III. Not worth the long time it takes to get through it.
I'll be waiting for the Tom Hanks' Forest Gump Sequel "Church is like a box full of chocolates" Hey Betty Butterfield might go to that one.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for the link.