"The DaVinci Code" premiered at the Cannes film festival yesterday. The critics, for the most part, HATED it. From E!Online:
"I haven't read the book, but there was just a ridiculous amount of exposition," wrote Lee Marshall of Screen International. "I thought it was plodding, and there was a complete lack of chemistry between Audrey Tautou and Tom Hanks."
"Tom Hanks was a zombie; thank goodness for Ian McKellen. It was overplayed, there was too much music--and it was much too grandiose," the Boston Globe's Peter Brunette told Agence France-Presse.
The Hollywood Reporter's Kirk Honeycutt refused to grant it absolution either.
The filmmakers "can't do much...with mostly colorless characters designed around idiosyncrasies and weird scholarly talents--sort of academic X-Men--rather than flesh-and-blood personalities," he wrote, though he did hasten to lavish praise on (X-Men star) Ian McKellen for delivering Da Vinci's sole redeeming performance.
During the closing credits, rather than applaud, Cannes' traditionally tough audience fell into a sustained silence punctuated only by the occasionally disdainful catcall.
I think I'm still going to see it. I've read the book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love Dan Brown's style of writing, his meticulous attention to detail, and his choice of subject matter. Angels and Demons is still my favorite. I'm not expecting to enjoy it or not enjoy it, I just want to see how it was adapted. In my experience, a lot of books don't make good movies because there's so much more you can say in a book that you can't necessarily translate to a visual medium.
And honestly, I think the whole protesting scene is a little much. Christians are so immutable about their faith, which I think is a drawback. Open-mindedness is one of the true tenets of faith. I'm not saying I believe Jesus DID marry and have a child, but I certainly think it's possible, considering everything I've read about the history of Christianity and the teachings of Jesus himself. He was just a prophet, and a man. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever know the truth.
Either way, it's just a movie, folks. Get over it.
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4 comments:
Oh, haven't you heard? Now the albinos are pissed as well.
I agree. Talk about blowing things out of proportion. I find that most movie critics argue from a shaky foundation to begin with. I think most of them wanted to dislike it. We'll just have to make up our own minds.
I enjoyed the book, too. People have to just take it for what it is: a genre thriller. It's not high literary art or theology, but it never claimed to be. When the book first came out, it was praised by thriller writers such as Nelson DeMille and Clive Cussler. I think the book's popularity drew in people who don't normally read this type of book. Those of us who read a lot of thrillers can only shake our heads when people talk about its preposterous plot. Well, DUH. That's the very nature of a genre thriller.
I also believe it's possible that Jesus had a wife and children. There's nothing blasphemous or offensive about that. If fact, I rather like the idea. As a husband and father, I think Jesus missed out if he went through his 33 years on earth single and childless. The Church can bitch about lack of evidence all they want, but I can only wonder what evidence was in all of those precious libraries they destroyed. If the "history" of the DaVinci Code is indeed easily debunked crap, then why the furor? It should be no threat at all. Instead we're left to think, "they doth protest too much."
Sorry to be so long-winded.
Someone in one of my pagan groups posted a really insightful article about Sophian Gnosticism, which is an offshoot of Christianity. Check it out here:
http://www.danbrown.com/novels/davinci_code/articles/gnostic.htm
On rottentomatoes.com, the critics have given it about a 17% so far, while the site users have given it a 61%. I think your notion of critics not wanting to like the movie sounds valid, which is sad. 6 out of 10 "regular people" like it so far. That's promising enough, don't you think?
I liked the book.
I liked the movie.
I am not, however, normal.
&
Oh, and Heather I agree. DaVince is really good, but Angels and Demons really kicks ass, and that is going to be the next movie. Boy, you thought the Catholics were pissed over this one . . .
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