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The Da Vinci Code: A humble review by yours truly

I just got home from seeing The Da Vinci Code tonight. Opening night of the movie seemed like a real fun time to see such a "controversial" movie. And yet, opening night was not full of enthusiastic fans of the novel but idiots who wandered into the theater expecting to find 4 seats together 10 minutes before the movie was due to start. Something tells me that those folks weren't big Dan Brown fans but were simply drawn to the movie by the hype and the protests it inspired in some Christian communities.

Speaking of the controversy, as expected, there were some Christians on the lawn near Tinseltown Theaters here in Louisville who were carrying protest signs and a very large crucifix. I wish I had had my camera handy. I couldn't quite read their signs but the intent was obvious. What I found interesting and very clever was an advertisement shown during the lull between sitting down in the theater and the start of the trailers -- a local Christian church bought an ad that encouraged anyone who was interested in what they saw in the movie to visit their church to learn the truth about the Christian faith. Inspired, really. Nice touch, Northeast Christian church!

I am sad to report that, while the movie stayed fairly true to the book (which I thoroughly enjoyed), it made for an uninspiring film. Most reviewers said the movie was too "talky" or that it dragged. And yes indeed, it was long. Well folks, the novel was about an ancient mystery that required cerebral talents to solve -- any time your protagonists are a French cryptologist and a Harvard symbologist, there's bound to be more thinking than kung-fu. Ron Howard should have realized that it would NOT translate well to mainstream film. There was no kung-fu, no gratuitous violence or sex. The only nudity in the movie was a rear view, for a few seconds, of the bare-bottomed Silas; however, since he is flagelatting himself (whipping his back... get your mind out of the gutter!), it hardly qualifies as gratuitous sex... unless, of course, you're into that sort of thing. ;-)

If you read and liked the book, you'll like the movie. I certainly did. It was beautifully filmed and scored, and it was certainly well-acted in my humble non-Hollywood opinion. What I think would have translated better to film is the story of the Knights Templar. At least in that movie there would be some sword-fu.

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