The Da Vinci Code was first a novel published in 2003 by Dan Brown. In 2006, rabidly popular movie directed by Ron Howard was released. The screenplay was written by Akiva Goldsman. Tom Hanks plays the lead role of Professor Robert Langdon. Langdon teaches iconology and religious history of some sort at Harvard. Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellan, Alfred Molina, Paul Bettany, and Jean Reno are also included in the main cast. So there is plenty of more than reliable talent on the screen.
Professor Langdon happens to be lecturing in Paris when he is asked by the local constabulary to examine a group of symbols etched into the body of a Louvre curator. This kicks off an examination of the works of Leonardo da Vinci in which all sorts of implications challenges that is known or taught in the Christian faith. There is a murderous monk on the trail of Langdon and the granddaughter of the victim who has become an ally. So there are few chases and scenes of grotesque violence in the midst of overdramatic revelations.
So I am generally a conservative Christian who believes in the teachings of Scripture, but I am going to do my best to put aside my views on what would be considered just blatant blasphemy in which this story spews. I had heard the hype about this film and was prepared to have strong disagreement with the theories presented here. Fortunately, there was no real sense that I needed to question the teachings of my church because of this film. Saying that, I will still a bit disappointed in this film. It had a lot of moments that seemed to drag. It comes in about two and a half hours, and I felt every moment of that and then some. The visual effects and the settings were very compelling though. The performances were fine, which is not surprising considering the cast sheet. I think the problems had more to do with with the screenplay than much else. Visually, it looks great most of the time, but I still had trouble being all that interested in the dialogue, A lot of these alternate revelations and explanations as to the real nature of Jesus Christ. Basically I was just a bit bored with the movie, but surely that would be better than being outraged.
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