Barnes & Noble

Considering how impossibly high expectations were for the film version of Dan Brown’s wildly popular novel, director Ron Howard should be commended for pulling off as sturdy a job as he did. The serpentine plot of Brown’s metaphysical mystery could itself thwart a small army of directors and screenwriters. Dr. Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), an American scholar specializing in religious symbolism, is summoned to the Louvre one night, ostensibly to help French police captain Bezu Fache (Jean Reno) investigate the murder of another researcher. But when Langdon himself falls under suspicion, he enlists the aid of government agent Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou) and British researcher Sir Leigh Teabing (Ian McKellen) to help solve the mystery -- which, with pertinent clues hidden in paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, involves a 2,000-year-old secret of great significance to all humanity. Downplaying the book’s most melodramatic and sensationalistic aspects, Howard still has plenty of gothic plotting to deal with. But the film maintains enough momentum to whisk momentarily befuddled viewers past assorted absurdities and gaps in logic. If you let yourself get caught up in the thrill of it all, without searching for any underlying spiritual gravity,The Da Vinci Code offers smashing entertainment. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Dan Brown's controversial best-selling novel about a powerful secret that's been kept under wraps for thousands of years comes to the screen in this suspense thriller from director Ron Howard. The stately silence of Paris' Louvre museum is broken when one of the gallery's leading curators is found dead on the grounds, with strange symbols carved into his body and left around the spot where he died. Hoping to learn the significance of the symbols, police bring in Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou), a gifted cryptographer who is also the victim's granddaughter. Needing help, Sophie calls on Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), a leading symbologist from the United States. As Sophie and Robert dig deeper into the case, they discover the victim's involvement in the Priory of Sion, a secret society whose members have been privy to forbidden knowledge dating back to the birth of Christianity. In their search, Sophie and Robert happen upon evidence that could lead to the final resting place of the Holy Grail, while members of the priory and an underground Catholic society known as Opus Dei give chase, determined to prevent them from sharing their greatest secrets with the world. Also starring Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, and Alfred Molina, The Da Vinci Code was shot on location in France and the United Kingdom; the Louvre allowed the producers to film at the famous museum, but scenes taking place at Westminster Abbey had to filmed elsewhere when church officials declined permission. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 043396161238
• Source: SONY PICTURES
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound
• Language: Français
• Editions: Subtitled, Dubbed
• Time: 2:54:00
• Sales Rank: 4,523

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