Tuesday, April 18, 2006
DA VINCI CODE
Featuring: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno
Brief Synopsis: A Harvard symbology expert is called to The Louvre - where he is shown the body of a spreadeagled dead man.
Comments: A film that has been hyped without doing any publicity. The film that the Vatican doesn't want you to see. The film that the Philippines have cut out the last 10 minutes. Well they should have all seen the film first because it really isn't that controversial. It's a fairly even handed adventure film. It's not quite as witty or sharp as Indiana Jones or as 'religious' as The Passion of Christ and certainly not as action laden as M.I.3. But in it's own right, it's basically an OK film.
The action takes a while to get going (my viewing partner nearly fell asleep during the first half hour) as the film attempts to show four points of view (Professor, the Cardinal, the albino monk & the police officer) and the problem that you have building up 4 separate characters. All the pre-film fuss surrounds the fact when Sir Leigh Teabing starts talking about church history and the origins of Christianity in the middle of the film. Ok, I shall have a little bit of dialogue here:
It's a film - it's supposed to entertain, it's based on a fictional book and it's primary purpose is not to inform. You can watch the film but don't always believe everything you see and hear. Just because it's on screen doesn't mean it's true. However if you want to believe that everything is true, go ahead. If you want to know more, you can buy one of the many books on the market, go to your local church or click on this link (which is obviously the easiest!) Da Vinci Code Special. Maybe people can use this film as a platform to build further knowledge (it should prompt many questions if nothing else!).
The second of the half does build some momentum as they head west towards England and then north. However the big problem for me was that I would spend all my viewing time comparing the book to the film (as I do with all films where I have read the book). And of course, my mind would say, "they've missed that bit out," "they've cut out that bit" "that bit's changed" (Swiss building) and so on which does change the emphasis of the film a little. The other problem is that they translated all the French and Latin into Malay but declined to leave the English translation so I spent most of the time guessing the dialogue - thanks Malaysian translators! I mean, I thought your country was trying to improve its English - bah humbug. But generally I thought the film was ok - not the most exciting film in the history of filmmaking but I've seen a lot worse too. (The book is ok but be prepared for hanging chapters thus making it slightly addictive.)
Things to learn from this film: It depends on the tea re: whether you should have lemon or milk with it.
Rating: 5/10
Featuring: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno
Brief Synopsis: A Harvard symbology expert is called to The Louvre - where he is shown the body of a spreadeagled dead man.
Comments: A film that has been hyped without doing any publicity. The film that the Vatican doesn't want you to see. The film that the Philippines have cut out the last 10 minutes. Well they should have all seen the film first because it really isn't that controversial. It's a fairly even handed adventure film. It's not quite as witty or sharp as Indiana Jones or as 'religious' as The Passion of Christ and certainly not as action laden as M.I.3. But in it's own right, it's basically an OK film.
The action takes a while to get going (my viewing partner nearly fell asleep during the first half hour) as the film attempts to show four points of view (Professor, the Cardinal, the albino monk & the police officer) and the problem that you have building up 4 separate characters. All the pre-film fuss surrounds the fact when Sir Leigh Teabing starts talking about church history and the origins of Christianity in the middle of the film. Ok, I shall have a little bit of dialogue here:
It's a film - it's supposed to entertain, it's based on a fictional book and it's primary purpose is not to inform. You can watch the film but don't always believe everything you see and hear. Just because it's on screen doesn't mean it's true. However if you want to believe that everything is true, go ahead. If you want to know more, you can buy one of the many books on the market, go to your local church or click on this link (which is obviously the easiest!) Da Vinci Code Special. Maybe people can use this film as a platform to build further knowledge (it should prompt many questions if nothing else!).
The second of the half does build some momentum as they head west towards England and then north. However the big problem for me was that I would spend all my viewing time comparing the book to the film (as I do with all films where I have read the book). And of course, my mind would say, "they've missed that bit out," "they've cut out that bit" "that bit's changed" (Swiss building) and so on which does change the emphasis of the film a little. The other problem is that they translated all the French and Latin into Malay but declined to leave the English translation so I spent most of the time guessing the dialogue - thanks Malaysian translators! I mean, I thought your country was trying to improve its English - bah humbug. But generally I thought the film was ok - not the most exciting film in the history of filmmaking but I've seen a lot worse too. (The book is ok but be prepared for hanging chapters thus making it slightly addictive.)
Things to learn from this film: It depends on the tea re: whether you should have lemon or milk with it.
Rating: 5/10
