22nd May, 2006

DAVID ADAMS

The Da Vinci Code (M)

In a word: Flawed

THE DA VINCI CODE: Tom Hanks plays Harvard professor Robert Langdon and Audrey Tautou plays police cryptologist Sophie Neveu in the film. PICTURE: Simon Mein © 2006 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved. "The movie also reveals - in a way that only film can - how sudden and ludicrous some of the plot jumps made in the book are and how easily its two chief protagonists - Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon and police cryptologist Sophie Neveu - seem to simply accept the arguments presented to them."

Yes, I’ve seen it. And no, I haven’t abandoned my faith as a result.

The Da Vinci Code is a fast-paced thriller which - in line with Dan Brown’s book of the same name - strings together a wide range of bizarre and largely discredited esoterica in a bid to create what is ultimately an unbelievable conspiracy theory surrounding the beliefs of the Christian church.

While Ron Howard-directed movie is a fair reflection of the book’s plot, it suffers from having to squash a reasonably complicated plot into a tight time-frame (although at well over two hours, its a long film).

The movie also reveals - in a way that only film can - how sudden and ludicrous some of the plot jumps made in the book are and how easily its two chief protagonists - Harvard professor of religious symbology, Robert Langdon, and police cryptologist Sophie Neveu - seem to simply accept the arguments presented to them.

The film does water down some of the book’s more intense scenes and portrays Langdon as more open-minded toward Christianity than he appears in the book. It also employs flashbacks to illustrate some of the supposed “historical” events outlined in the book - although in this case the use of such a device seems to only underline their dubiousness.

Tom Hanks, who plays Langdon, puts in a workmanlike performance - this is not going to be remembered as one of his greatest roles - as does Audrey Tautou (who plays Neveu) and Jean Reno (who plays the detective Bezu Fache). Paul Bettany is probably the standout as the psychotic monk Silas, followed by Ian McKellan, who plays Sir Leigh Teabing.

Much as was the case with the book, Christians will be offended by some of the more bizarre and erroneous claims presented here - particularly that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, had a child, and was nothing more than a gifted man - but at the end of the day, these heresies - and the many inaccuracies, both historical and otherwise - referred to in both the book and the film are nothing new.

Yet the God I know is One who threw the stars into space, who forged and then populated the world, who created man from dust. Rest assured, Christianity will survive The Da Vinci Code. It’s merely the latest sally in a long war against the truths of Christianity and represents, for Christians, an opportunity to once again point the way to the light of Christ.

Putting aside the controversial and sometimes irritating content for one moment - much as that is hard to do - as a purely cinematic experience, The Da Vinci Code probably doesn’t deserve the critical drubbing it’s received. Yet nor does it deserve the stratospheric publicity hype it’s received.