Da Vinci Code Review - Two Thumbs Down
I got in to see The Da Vinci Code yesterday at a press screening yesterday and I was actually looking forward to it. There are a lot of people that criticize the quality of the writing in the book, but I actually enjoyed it. Then again, I read it in one go on a long flight and usually my standards drop a bit when it come to “Airplane Books”. Regardless, I have always liked Tom Hanks and Ron Howard isn’t too shabby in my book.
What I was treated to however was one of the worst adaptations of a book ever. One of the things that I hadn’t thought about was the necessity to educate the moviegoer which is easily done in a book but in a movie it becomes horribly cumbersome. They tried to achieve the history and background lessons through a series of flashbacks and some of the most drawn out and ridiculous dialogue I have seen in years. There have been Tom Hanks movies I haven’t enjoyed before but this is the first time he has given a bland and vanilla performance in my opinion. I got the feeling throughout the movie that there was very heavy handed direction in an attempt to mimic the book rather then add some personality to the picture.
On top of that, there are so many climaxes to the movie, by the last one you have the keys in your hand, wanting to be the first to your car and beat the traffic (I took Public Transportation but I was still jingling my change). How this movie was 2 and a half hours seeing as how it felt like over 3. Some of the moments in the movie which were supposed to be groundbreaking or jaw dropping were down right funny (in a bad way). I read this morning they prompted laughter at Cannes although there was no audible laughter in our screening. You could definitely sense the smirking though.
Overall, I was extremely disappointed but it just goes to show that the books rarely make good movies theory is true whether a book sells 1,000 copies or 40 million (or whatever ridiculous amount it sold). If I was going to give advice, it would be to avoid this movie like the plague but I have a feeling it is going to do massive numbers in the first few weeks based on hype alone. It’s a shame as there are so many other good movies out there but that’s the way Hollywood is these days. Anyway, I would be interested in other peoples comments as they see the movie as I just can’t see how anyone would enjoy it.
Try to Help Out and Get a Great Site in the Process
As many readers of Off the Top of My Head know, I work with a lot of different webmasters on a whole range of projects. One of my favourite to work with is Stephen Weir of Weirfire Design. He has always been a good guy and I’m not sure if it’s the ginger hair but the kid grew on me over the last two years. Enough of that though and it’s time to get to the reason for todays post.
Stephen was between payments from customers and needed a bit of cash to get him through a slow time. I did,t have any jobs for him right now (I have been trying to cut back on projects) that would pay off right away so I decided to give him one of my sites that hasn’t gotten my full attention for a while. This way he could sell it and get a few bucks while the buyer would get something good with lots of potential in return. So, if you want to help Weir out (He has helped a lot of people out himself in different forums over the years), and get a crack out a site with a whole lotta potential you can bid on it at Digital Point Forums or v7n. You can bid at either forum, just not both (so you aren’t bidding against yourself). The threads will be updated if there is a bid in the opposite forum.
Good luck Stephen 