The Da Vinci Code (2006)

Starring Tom Hanks, Directed by Ron Howard

The Da Vinci Code is a kind of fusion between a conventional thriller and a spiritual journey. It’s very engaging. The thriller part is filled with the standard thriller stuff: people on the run from violence, an implacable killer, a conspiracy impelling the chase, and the desperate attempts of the hero to “figure everything out.” But parallel to and somehow untouched by this thriller business is a separate tale; a tale of history and spirituality and religion, intertwined with mysterious symbols, riddles, and ciphers (codes).

Some Christians have criticized this movie and recommended boycotting it. A strict reading of the Bible certainly contradicts the central idea of the movie. But as an allegory or commentary on spirituality, without the necessity of rejecting or accepting it with relation to ones own religion, it is interesting, thought provoking, and inspiring.

The movie is based on the best-selling novel by Dan Brown. The book has a lot more detail than the movie, as is natural when you have hundreds of pages and hour after hour of your reader’s time to fill. In 2 ½ hours, the movie The Da Vinci Code can only touch on much that’s in the book, and isn’t able to develop the characters as fully. A central part of the plot is left unexplained. (If you like the movie, read the book.)

But this is quibbling. Director Ron Howard works with actor Tom Hanks to craft another satisfying, enjoyable movie (the excellent Apollo 13 was another of their collaborations). Hanks is wonderful as symbologist Robert Langdon. A symbologist knows symbols, and this is lucky, because the movie’s central plot is puzzling out a whole raft of symbols as they relate to an ancient religious mystery, and to curious rivalries and mysterious religious conflicts in the present day.

Supporting Hanks is a luminous Audrey Tautou as a woman on the run with him. Jean Reno is a determined French policeman chasing them, Ian McKellen is Sir Leigh Teabing (an expert on the central grail idea of the movie), and Paul Bettany is Silas, a chilling albino killer.

Some parts of the thriller portion of this movie are violent, but the film manages to shift into a state of grace and repose by the end, and is a good movie to catch. I left the theater feeling uplifted: it gets my seal of approval.