The Da Vinci Code

I watched The Da Vinci Code last night. I thought it was a good movie, and the roughly 140 minute run-time didn't feel like a long movie--I never looked at my watch. This is a plus because for long, lesser movies looking at my watch is a bad thing--it means I'm hoping it will end soon.

I haven't read and had no intention of reading Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code, mostly because I was afraid it was being over-hyped, and I'd read that though commercially successful it was badly written. This meant I had no plans on seeing the movie version until it was broadcast on a television network. But last night some of us wanted to see it, and I had no strong objections, especially as I'm a fan of Tom Hanks.

I enjoyed it. I don't think it's a great movie, i.e., I won't buy the DVD unless it's on an incredibly good sale, but The Da Vinci Code wasn't a waste of money. <minor spoilers may follow> I admit the premise regarding Mary Magdalen strongly appealed to me. I liked how the quest for the Holy Grail took center stage in the movie, and not the villains opposing the protagonists. One indication of this was that the quest continued for a significant amount of time even after the antagonists had been disposed of. Both Tom Hanks and Ian McKellen were good, with a definite nod to the latter.

I'm still not going to buy the book, but if I happen to see it in the library I just might flip through it and see if it interests me.

--3.5 out of 5 stars--