The Da Vinci Code was released in theaters in May 2006. It had great hopes of being a hit at the boxoffice, especially with Tom Hanks playing the character of Robert Langdon, the seemingly sexy and highly intelligent Professor in Religious Symbolism. I saw the movie in theaters with my family, all being "non-readers" of the book. Now, I really don't understand how anyone who didn't read the book actually understood the movie. In my opinion, everything about this movie was bad. Check out the New York Times' article on the movie...I guess I'm not the only one who was disappointed!
Tom Hanks' performance was not what it usually is...I mean, we're talking about a legend in film. He didn't fulfill his role as Mr. Langdon because, in my opinion, his character wasn't explored enough in the film. This was done much better in the novel. Audrey Tautou, the actress playing Sophie Neveu, the female protagonist of the novel also did a mediocre job at fulfilling her role in this movie. I imagine Sophie to be a much stronger character than what Ms. Tautou portrayed. In the film, she seemed very dependent and sometimes a little spacey.
The story moved so fast I could barely keep up with what was happening in front of me. Scenes were moving so quickly and I feel like the other characters, besides Langdon and Neveu, were not given enough time to allow the audience to understand them. While reading the book, I sometimes had trouble keeping up with characters and their roles, and I assume that the movie did no better job at aiding the audience in keeping everyone straight, especially for "non-readers".
The one good thing I found while watching this movie was the scenery in which these characters were acting in. The beauty of the European background caught my attention way more than the characters and sometimes even the story line. To me, this movie did not give credit to the intensity of the plot and lacked in showing its audience exactly what Dan Brown theorizes.
"Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown is supposed to be the "what happened first", the story before The Da Vinci Code. I have no yet read this book, but I've heard that it is even better than The Da Vinci Code. The movie is set to be released in May 2009...but I'm a little afraid. Will this movie actually do the novel justice? Or will it just be another disappointment to me and many other avid readers? Check out the Angels and Demons movie trailor at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASVeN-58HKk and compare it with The Da Vinci Code trailor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szfyh2h838w . I think the latter trailor is much better and I would rather see that movie, but what do you think?
Photo courtesy of http://www.ssqq.com/archive/images/da%20vinci%20code%20tom%20hanks.jpg
Tom Hanks' performance was not what it usually is...I mean, we're talking about a legend in film. He didn't fulfill his role as Mr. Langdon because, in my opinion, his character wasn't explored enough in the film. This was done much better in the novel. Audrey Tautou, the actress playing Sophie Neveu, the female protagonist of the novel also did a mediocre job at fulfilling her role in this movie. I imagine Sophie to be a much stronger character than what Ms. Tautou portrayed. In the film, she seemed very dependent and sometimes a little spacey.
The story moved so fast I could barely keep up with what was happening in front of me. Scenes were moving so quickly and I feel like the other characters, besides Langdon and Neveu, were not given enough time to allow the audience to understand them. While reading the book, I sometimes had trouble keeping up with characters and their roles, and I assume that the movie did no better job at aiding the audience in keeping everyone straight, especially for "non-readers".
The one good thing I found while watching this movie was the scenery in which these characters were acting in. The beauty of the European background caught my attention way more than the characters and sometimes even the story line. To me, this movie did not give credit to the intensity of the plot and lacked in showing its audience exactly what Dan Brown theorizes.
"Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown is supposed to be the "what happened first", the story before The Da Vinci Code. I have no yet read this book, but I've heard that it is even better than The Da Vinci Code. The movie is set to be released in May 2009...but I'm a little afraid. Will this movie actually do the novel justice? Or will it just be another disappointment to me and many other avid readers? Check out the Angels and Demons movie trailor at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASVeN-58HKk and compare it with The Da Vinci Code trailor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szfyh2h838w . I think the latter trailor is much better and I would rather see that movie, but what do you think?
Photo courtesy of http://www.ssqq.com/archive/images/da%20vinci%20code%20tom%20hanks.jpg
Yeah, the movie was pretty weak. I especially didn't like their choices of music. Like in the car-chase scene: the music seemed like it was trying to put me asleep, not get me worried about their situation.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope Angels and Demons is better.
I liked the movie only because I hadn't read the book, so the plot line interested me. It made me interested in reading the novel. The movie definitely lacked and it's not something I would buy or ever see again I don't think. I also heard the character played by Tom Hanks was supposed to be a lot younger. I blame the acting and the confusion on the writing, Tom Hanks can't be a good actor without the opportunity of a developed character written on the page. That sucks, it seems like it could of been good.
ReplyDelete