I finally watched the controversal "The Da Vinci Code" movie. I had to go to the movie during weekdays because it was so popular as expected. (I tried on saturday but the tickets were sold out) As I didn't read the book, I didn't have too much expectation on the movie beforehand. However I knew about all the controversy that the movie had created and religous groups in the world were not too happy about the movie.
The movie was fine but it was not the greatest movie so that I became so excited after I walked out of the theater. (Again as I did not read the book) I don't know how closely the movie described the original text. One thing I know was that the book was the bestseller read by almost 40 million people. Considering this, the "impact" of the movie to me was not as strong as I expected escpecially after all those controversy debates and media coverage. Maybe it was not a fair game for "The Da Vinci code" movie in the beginning. Since the movie drew such a huge attention even before the movie was released, there was no way that the movie was going to exceed those expectations of the viewers. In my case, what made me really want to watch the movie was the movie preview where Langdon (Tom Hanks) was giving a public lecture about "symbolism". Because I had personal interest in that subject, that scene was fascinating and I hoped that the movie would have more materials on semilogy or symbolism. However, all the puzzles and tricks introduced in the movie were nothing new.
In spite of the dissappoinment, I still think that "The Da Vinci code" is worth watching just because of the casting - Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Sir Ian McKellen, Paul Betanny, Jean Reno, Alfred Molina. When will you have a chance to watch a movie with these great casting members again? Ian McKellen was fabulous; he was Teabing himself. Paul Bettany as Silas did a great job and many people say he did the best performance in the movie. Seeing Alfred Molina (as Bishop Aringarosa) in the movie is always delight. Audrey Tautou who I didn't recongnize on the first sight because her image as Sophie was so different from Amellie, played a curiuos, intelligent and strong young women who fits to her role as an important figure very well.
I may even purchase its DVD when it is released. If you expected a spectacular thriller movie or an adventure digging deeply in secrets of the christianity buried for 2000 years, I would like to tell you that you shoud not expect too much. Without too much expectation, maybe you will be able to enjoy the movie better.
