The Da Vinci Code

Someone told me this was one of their favourite films, and with the two sequels (which I have not yet seen and did not know existed) it makes up one of their favourite trilogies. I remember thinking this film was faintly ridiculous when it came out but it’s been a while and rather than question this person’s judgement I thought I’d give it a fair crack of the whip.

It’s still pretty poor. I think I maybe watched a director’s cut or something but it was nearly 3 hours long. What starts as a fairly interesting story with some good thriller elements gets really dull with an hour left to play out.

Paul Bettany puts in a chilling performance even with a shoddy Spanish accent, as does Ian McKellen, but otherwise there’s little in the Da Vinci Code to save it.

It doesn’t help that the source material is bad, I shouldn’t be surprised that a poorly written train station novel makes for a poorly written bloated screenplay.

When it came out it was panned as a shoddy attack on religion based on little evidence. That it is, but mostly it’s an attack on the patience of the audience. A brainless joyless snooze-fest.