The Da Vinci Code: B

For all of it's scathing reviews (minus Roger Ebert) this movie was far from a dissapointment. I came expecting to be saddened, or worse, angry but instead I was pleased with the outcome. The translation from book to screen is done very nicely, with the ending completely different but in a good way. The acting is fair, Tom Hanks doesn't quite get into his own until 2/3 the way through the movie. The story itself seems alittle more preposterous on screen, where as in book form you might have been almost inclined to believe it here....it's harder. Still the best point the movie made (here's to all you conservative Catholics) is that it doesn't matter if Jesus had a bloodline: what is divine can still be mortal, might still be mortal by being divine.

Akiva Goldsmith and Ron Howard who wrote-produced and directed-produced respectively do a remarkable job. There are occasional flashes of brilliance in the script (like in the final few sequences) for an otherwise solid script and the movie is directed perfectly. The thriller elements, toned down in the book, coupled with Robert Langdon's (Tom Hanks) newfound claustraphobia add a nice little cat-and-mouse air to the whole thing. Plus, Sir Ian McKellan steals almost the whole movie as a jovial and raving grail historian. Awful? I think not.