The Da Vinci Code: Blu-ray Disc Movie Review (2009)

Directed by Ron Howard, written by Akiva Goldsman, 158 minutes, rated PG-13.

Just out on Blu-ray disc in time for the release of “Angels & Demons,” a film that's being approached as a sequel to "Code" as opposed to a prequel, is Ron Howard's "The Da Vinci Code," which inspired hunger strikes, picketing, accusations of blasphemy, prayer vigils and endless debates. So, at least when it first appeared in theaters, it began on a promising note.

Based on Dan Brown's best-selling book, this is a glossy, good-looking, special effects-heavy movie first, and a provocative hypothesis on the roots of Christianity second. It closely follows the book, opening with Louvre curator Jacques Sauniere (Jean-Paul Marielle) rushing through the dark museum before being shot in the gut by an albino monk (Paul Bettany) with an agenda.

Before Sauniere's stomach acids poison him, this dying member of the Priory of Sion stumbles around the oddly under-guarded museum and leaves a slew of scrambled clues about the location of the Holy Grail, which if found could lead to a rather damaging, worldwide cover-up by the Roman Catholic Church. That's something several people in the movie won't allow to happen, including a corrupt bishop (Alfred Molina) and the aforementioned monk, each of whom belong to the order, Opus Dei.

On the case is Inspector Bezu Fache (Jean Reno), who pulls into his investigation the famed religious symbologist, Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), who is in Paris promoting his new book when Fache asks him to come to the Louvre. What Langdon finds is Sauniere, who in his last moments of life miraculously found the strength to carve up his body, stretch out on the Grande Galerie's parquet floor, and strike a pose that recalls one of Da Vinci's master works, thus offering yet another clue in a movie nested in riddles.

Audrey Tautou is Sophie Neveu, a police cryptographer and Sauniere's granddaughter who alters the course of the movie when she arrives on the scene and warns Langdon that Fache believes he's the murderer. Together, they escape the museum--itself an absurdity given the ease with which they do it--and the movie becomes a rote thriller in which they are chased throughout Paris, London and Scotland.

Revelations are just where you expect them to be--literally at every turn--with only Sir Ian McKellen as Grail scholar Sir Leigh Teabing allowed to mine a personality. While Hanks and Tautou are boring shells, McKellen understands the story's pop underpinnings and thus transforms himself into a grinning, leering spectacle whose character needs the assistance of crutches to keep himself upward and mobile.

You know, not unlike the book and certainly not unlike this movie.

Grade: C+

Features:
Unlocking The Code: Interactive Picture-in-Picture
New Select Scene Commentary With Director Ron Howard
17 Featurettes:
- First Day On The Set With Ron Howard
- A Discussion With Dan Brown
- A portrait Of Langdon
- The Filmmakers' Journey
- Learn About The Codes: The Music, The Props, The Sets, And The Visual Effects

View the trailer for "The Da Vinci Code" here: