Viewed in
2009
Premise
Based Dan Brown's novel, Tom Hanks must protect the Vatican from the Illuminati.
Who should watch
Tom Hanks fans and fans of the book.
Thoughts
It has been a while since I read the novel, but I felt it was faithful to the main plot of the story. Sure, a lot of the little cool puzzles had to be swept aside, but that is always a necessary evil when adapting for film.
Since I remembered the basic story, it was as if I were watching for the second time. Yet, it was still enjoyable for me, as I was able to see how the film makers had to trick the audience in certain key scenes. I am sure if I thought hard enough, I could find the plot holes, but I was entertained to not care.
Compared to the 'Da Vinci Code' movie, this was much better. Partly because of a better story to tell, but also the film was livelier in style. My main problem with the other movie was that Hanks and Ron Howard were cruising on auto-pilot. Here, there was more intensity from the scenes and acting, aided by Hans Zimmer's grandiose score. It did not feel like a two hour twenty minute movie.
Maybe it was the theater dimming their projector lights again, but the image appeared to be obviously computer graphic-y (yes, I made that up). A lot of exterior and structure shots were hazy, unclear, and just gave off the aura of artificiality, as if they filmed it all on set, even though they did film stuff in Italy.
Perhaps it was my lowered expectations, but I liked it much more than the critics did. As a fan of the novel, I enjoyed this entertaining adaptation.
What I would change
Not sure.
