Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou in THE DA VINCI CODE (2006).
© Columbia Pictures

Mania Grade: B
Reviewed Format: Theatrical Release
Rated: PG-13
Stars: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Paul Bettany, Alfred Molina, Jean Reno
Writer: Akiva Goldsman, based on the novel by Dan Brown
Director: Ron Howard
Distributor: Columbia Pictures

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THE DA VINCI CODE

However, against the odds, director Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman have wrestled the source material into a workable film thriller. Goldsman has made one crucial change that in retrospect seems obvious the protagonist, Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), though still erudite, is unaware of the particular mythology that propels the story and is a more conventional Christian than the character in the novel. This probably won't placate a lot of the people who were inclined to be irate at the book, even though author Brown made a point of presenting fanatics on both sides, none of whom represent a larger group (Goldsman keeps this facet of the original intact).

THE DA VINCI CODE begins with the shooting of Jacques Sauniere (Jean-Pierre Marielle), a curator in the Louvre Museum. Langdon, a college professor who specializes in religious symbolism, is summoned to the bizarre crime scene, supposedly because of his expertise in interpreting some images scrawled by the victim both on the floor and on his own body before he died, and because Langdon turned up in the professor's appointment book. Enter Parisian police cryptologist Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou), who has a closer connection to the case than her bosses initially realize. Sophie warns Robert he is in grave danger, showing him he's much more deeply implicated in the murder than he was led to believe. With Sophie doggedly pursuing the case for personal reasons and Robert anxious to clear himself and to avoid the assassin, the two go on the run, trying to find out who committed the murder, what the motive was, and what Sauniere was trying to tell both Sophie and Robert with the puzzles he left at the death scene. Putting their individual skills together, Robert and Sophie figure out enough to lead them to someone who has more answers, as both the police and the killer close in.

If you somehow haven't read the book and nobody's spoiled it for you two big ifs, since THE DA VINCI CODE has sold 40 million copies in hardbound since its 2003 publication you're probably still aware that there has been a lot of discussion of it in many Christian circles. This is because the back story propelling the copious amounts of running around and shooting is theological in nature. The film, like the book, doesn't get around to theorizing about how any of this could be empirically proved or disproved, but that really doesn't affect the plot. When Sophie, knowing only the tip of the iceberg, protests that the entire situation is insane, Robert points out sensibly that it doesn't matter what he and she believe they're being pursued by people who believe in the whole business very much.

Howard and Goldsman use a considerable amount of razzle-dazzle to liven up the parts where we're basically listening to a story being told, from recreating scenes of ancient Rome and Judea to having Ian McKellen, twinkling and captivating and full of delighted mischief, as the primary instrument of explanation. Hanks gives a wonderfully self-effacing performance as a quiet academic who can barely credit the insane mess that his life becomes in the matter of a few minutes and Tautou is luminous, sincere and capable. Jean Reno brings plenty of authority to bear as the French police inspector in charge of the case and Paul Bettany is fervent as a self-flagellating monk (though his character's solitary actions come perilously close to tipping into Monty Python territory).

If one can take THE DA VINCI CODE for what it is a thriller with some intriguing historical notions it's all good fun, provided nobody confuses the Hitchcockian pastiche here with a theological statement. Those liable to take umbrage should note that the movie does its best to reconcile its less traditional concepts (explored in nonfiction texts like HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL) with more accepted doctrine. It's glossy entertainment with a bit more than usual on its mind, not a challenge to world order as we know it.