[JerryLove]

don't wanna sound mean but everything in this movie is bogus. and people are believing it.

That's why it's called "fiction". If people are believing false statements (like where Hanks's character says that the existance of Jesus is historically provable) then that's their ignorance and their difficulty in telling fact from fiction. Don't let them listen to "War of the Worlds"

[Grasshopper359]

Originally Posted by jengoesup

The movie has some serious shifts from the novel.

I don't think it does. Compared to most movie remakes of books, I think it stayed pretty close to the original. I guess the difference is in how the two of us view "major" and "minor".

Neveu's actress also fails to meet the description of Neveu in the book.

Well, if it makes you feel better, Sophie Marceau and Judith Godrèch were also considered for the role. You have to make do with who you can get.

And maybe it was just me, but Reno didn't seem "bull-like" or gruff enough.

I think it was just you. I consider beating an air traffic controller senseless to be pretty bull-like and gruff. Jean Reno defines gruff. But maybe that's just because I've seen him in a lot of French movies, so I have prior images of him.

- The opening in the Lueve. Apparently this is the worst-guarded building in the world. There are no video survelence cameras (even at the enterances), there is no security that responds to alarms, and no police are near-by. Even after pulling a painting off the wall (and triggering the alarm) there was enough time to have a conversation, be shot, go to two different paintings in different halls, write several things in his own blood, strip off his clothes and pose himself all without anyone showing up...

I've been to the Louvre. Your suspisions are well-founded. In reality, you can't scratch your nose in there without someone seeing it on camera. It's more heavily guarded than the Prime Minister of Canada's residence. Kind of like the beginning of Casino. And if I'm not mistaken, should an alarm go off, the entire building automatically locks down and the BRB (Brigade de la répression du banditisme) shows up in less than five minutes. And since it's the Louvre, and someone actually daring enough to try to rob the place would have to be fairly well equipped, I'm pretty sure that the GIPN wouldn't waste any time showing up on the scene.

plus his choice to put things in such code is inexplicable "an albino monk killed me" would have been a worthwile addendum.

I laughed out loud when I read that. That was good.

- Is the sarcophigus actually important (as opposed to sentimental)? If so, why. It's some bones in a coffin that is entirely unverifiable. For all but the last couple decades, there was no such thing as genetic testing and even now all you could actually prove is that a modern person is related to the person in the coffin.

I was wondering that myself when I saw it. Scientifically, there's no way to prove whose remains are actually in the sarcophagus.

- The thought that a line which includes both women and men in marking descent (or did they only count women?) would have only one hair from "one of the oldest and most established families in france) is prefacia silly.

Especially since the St. Clare family crossed the Channel with the Norman invasion of 1066 AD and afterwards, engendered the Scottish Clan Sinclair.

- The police were incompitent. The Frenchman was given authority over CSI in England,

You mean CID? Okay, I'll stop nit-picking.

The English when asked to hold someone didn't hold him, nor interrogate him, nor verify his "I have a medical appointment" story (though in the movie's defence, I understand he was a knight or lord).

What can you say? They had to break for tea. (My apologies to UK readers - I couldn't resist).

- Poor Tom Hanks has now actually committed crimes (running from the police, fleeing across international borders, etc). Had he stayed, he could have fought the murder charge in a legal proceeding.

If it even went that far, which I doubt it would. You need more than a strange coded message written on a floor to arrest a man with no previous criminal record and absolutely no motive for the crime. Oh, when it came to light that Fache deliberately altered the crime scene...

don't wanna sound mean but everything in this movie is bogus. and people are believing it.

I don't want to sound condescending, but "everything" is a pretty all-encompassing term. Not "everything" was bogus. Paris is a real city, and it does have a museum called La Musée du Louvre, which has an inverted pyramid out front that was commissioned by François Mitterand. Which I find to be an eyesore compared to the museum's neo-classical architecture, but nonetheless...The Louvre has paintings inside, and some of them were painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, who did exist, and who was a painter, writer and inventer (although there's no evidence that he invented the codex - that was apparently a figment of Dan Brown's imagination). In Paris, there are such people as PJs - Police Judiciaire agents, and some of them are women. They are all capable of driving cars both forwards and in reverse, and the Mercedes-Benz Smart is capable of being driven both forward and in reverse. When Sophie Neveu reversed the car, she placed her right arm behind the passenger's seat, while her left held the steering wheel at the 12:00 position, and she turned her body completely to look out the back window. This is more or less the correct technique for reversing a vehicle, and thus not bogus. The French police do drive the Renault Mégane and Peugeot 307, and their vehicles are painted white with red and blue stripes on the side. The sirens really are blue and orange, and they do sound in a two-tone loop. In fact, there are more things in the movie that are true than fictitious, so to say that "everything" is bogus is a bit silly. The story is fictitious, but there were many, many elements of it that were true.

Besides, didn't we already establish that it's just a movie, and therefore, a big lie? Aren't all movies just lies? Didn't you see Galaxy Quest?

[supahfly23]

alrighty, my take: I dunno, for a movie starring Tom Hanks, Jean Reno, the guy who played Doc Ock, the guy from a knights tale and a beautiful mind were to all be in a movie that was directed by Ron Howard, i really expected a lot more. it was slow, boring, long, and as already dated has a lot of plot holes. i haven't read the book, so it was kinda difficult to follow everything (the flashbacks and all). not even counting all the historical and religious inaccuracies, the movie overall was a disappointment.

[Gwenny]

First of all, I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the book. Seriously loved it. I thought it was a very good, easy read, and kept my interest, which is hard to do.

Second of all, I was expecting great things, since the book was so awesome. However, this has to be one of if not the worst movie I have EVER seen. I am being completely serious about this. This movie was just crap. I did not like Tom Hanks in this movie, and I love Tom Hanks. I personally found his portrayel of this character dull, and don't even get me started about his hair. And that girl who played Sophie just irritated me. I can't even remember her name, she is that forgettable in this movie. The only redeeming character about this movie was the beautiful scenery, and the beautiful set designs. Personally, I was hoping for Ian McKellan and Paul Bettany to turn this movie around with their acting, basing my opinion from watching them in LOTR and Beautiful Mind. However, Ian McKellan as a freak only works in Xmen, and not this movie. And Paul Bettany's acting just seemed sloppy to me in this movie. And his 20 minute narration in the movie was boring and drug on and on and on and on and on....(i think you get my drift). In the book, the conversation between him and Sophie seemed unforced and natural, where as the acting of said scene, was just bad. It was so awkward, and forced. I seriously would've walked out of the movie at the point, if it hadn't been for the fact that I didn't drive, and lived about 1/2 hour from home. As for Alfred Molina, every time I look at him, I can only think of Spiderman. So that distracted me through the whole movie, I half excpected him to rip off his robes and reveal that he is in fact Doctor Octopus. Beyond the scenery and sets, I can't find one redeeming quality about this peice of garbage. It has nothing to do with the message, it's all to do with the poor quality of movie making, poor casting, and poor acting. As a sidenote, I think that what my mind imagined was so much greater than what they actually put in the movie, that I had my standards set too high.

As of last friday night, my least two favorite movies of all-time so far:
Davinci Code
Maid in Manhattan