
Take Robert and Sophie’s visit to her grandfather’s safety deposit box, for example. But where it really goes wrong is in taking itself so darned seriously.
#Who directed the da vinci code series#
Yes, the film lacks a good climax, or even any decent momentum, and is instead just a series of events of average intensity, none more perilous than any other. Luckily, Robert knows a Holy Grail expert, a dotty English man named Sir Leigh Teabing (Ian McKellen), whose last name always, ALWAYS makes me think “Teabag.” Teabing is perfectly delighted to get involved in a good old-fashioned caper, first giving Sophie (and us) some background on the legends surrounding the Grail. The Dan Brown/Tom Hanks Runs Through Museums series: If Robert and Sophie can figure out all the clues, they will unlock these secrets - secrets that certain factions of the Catholic Church would kill to keep hidden! (Specifically, there is a masochistic albino monk played by Paul Bettany who freelances as an assassin.) He was also a member of a secret society called the Priory of Sion, which for centuries has guarded the world’s most closely kept secret: the true nature and current whereabouts of the Holy Grail. Seems the fellow was fond of anagrams, puzzles, riddles, cryptograms and treasure hunts. Robert and Sophie are soon on the run, fleeing police while deciphering the old man’s clues. American tweed Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), in town for a lecture and book-signing, is summoned to the crime scene to help analyze cryptic clues left by the victim, only to discover - with the help of the deceased’s granddaughter Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou) - that he himself is a suspect in the killing. It all begins, as you recall from reading Dan Brown’s novel two summers ago, with an old scholar being murdered in the Louvre. They are prone to over-dramatic behavior, as when a Catholic higher-up says that “blood is being spilled,” and to make the point, he pours wine all over the table. Sure enough, “The Da Vinci Code” is a thick, bloated film in which very serious people dash around Europe while blurting important-sounding dialogue.

It becomes even less likely when that most generically competent and uninteresting of directors Ron Howard gets involved, and the odds drop even further when Howard brings his favorite generic screenwriter Akiva Goldsman ( “A Beautiful Mind,” “I, Robot,” “Batman & Robin”) with him.
#Who directed the da vinci code movie#
The point is, it’s unlikely that a movie version of “The Da Vinci Code” would be brilliant cinema, at least not without completely overhauling the book. There’s no shame in enjoying a book like that, or a movie like that, or a hamburger from there (I’m a fan of all three) - but you wouldn’t describe any of them as outstanding examples of their craft, would you? If you would, you need to read more books/watch more movies/dine out more often. It’s the literary equivalent of a movie like “Independence Day” or a restaurant like McDonald’s. It’s a fun book, and a quick read, and it has some nifty ideas, but let’s be honest: The writing is pedestrian and the story is ludicrous. We need to be clear on something first: “The Da Vinci Code” is not a great book.
