We took ourselves off to see The Da Vinci Code last night at the Sandton City Ster Kinekor. I heard from a friend that the movie follows the book pretty closely and while it has been a while since I read the book, it does fit with my memory of the storyline. One thing that does make the movie enjoyable for me is the special effects which really brought some of the historical stuff to life. I read in a recent Time magazine that the director of the movie, Ron Howard, saw his purpose as being to bring the historical background to life in the movie and I think he did a great job.
Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou were good but I think Paul Bettany was fantastic as Silas (although I did imagine Silas as a bit bigger when I read the book). He played the tortured and fanatically loyal character really well and I almost felt sympathetic.
We noticed a PG-13 warning when we walked in. It was on the poster and warned that people who are religiously sensitive may object or find the fictional story offensive. This was a little annoying as there wasn’t a similar caution when Passion of the Christ was released and painted a particularly dark picture of Jews of the time. I guess it makes more of a difference if the movie deals with a topic that is offensive to a more visible demographic even if that movie is publicised as fictional (the printing of the book I read claimed that Dan Brown based his book on historical fact – I understand that has subsequently been changed) whereas Mel Gibson’s movie was supposed to be based on historical fact.
Notwithstanding the controversy, the movie was great and really takes you on a ride like the book does. I enjoyed it!
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What do you think?