I’m not sure if the movie would’ve been better or worse having not read the book beforehand, but having done so, I felt unfulfilled by disappointing action and uninspiring chemistry.

With a relatively all-star case, The Da Vinci Code movie had the opportunity to live up to the unbelievable hype and anticipation that the book generated. Tom Hanks (aka Captain Goofball), and Audrey Tautou (Amélie) are the main characters, flanked by Ian McKellen, Paul Bettany, and Jean Reno, all of whom are relatively major stars.

Director Ron Howard struggled to translate yearning page-turning to the big screen, as this historically- and socially-contemplative pseudofiction poured out flatly as merely a hurried Euro murder mystery with a lack of meaningful exchange.

Most of the aura that made the novel such a collective event was lost in the disjointed, shallow portrayal of the Church’s role in the plot, and quirky special effects and even quirkier French cars muddied the flow. Hollywood just screwed another one up, unfortunately.