DaVinci Code: The book that should never have been made into a movie.

What's the controversy all about? This is one dull movie.

I didn't read the book but had hoped DaVinci Code would be a good thriller along the lines of the "Bourne Identity" series. Instead it was "Raiders of the Lost Ark" without any action or interesting characters. Twisting Biblical sources and making them Gospel, casting an albino as a super villain (maybe they should have used a mime because he didn't say anything important), and playing fast and easy with historical flashbacks (such as millions of "intelligent" women being branded as witches and killed in the Middle Ages), this is the kind of stuff that puts the movie in the same bracket as "JFK", "Troy" "Patriot" and "Kingdom of Heaven". It's interesting entertainment but please don't show them in history class.

I won't go into the discussion on the validity of the movie's claims (there are plenty of sources on the Web for that fight) but remember this is Hollywood and it's always about money. The more controversial the story, the better for sales. But let's just say every claim in the movie has little or no evidence to back it up.

Seeing Alfred Molina (Doc Octopus in Spiderman 3) as a villain had potential but he basically was only in about three scenes where he gets beat up, carries around a briefcase with bonds stuffed in it, answers his cell phone and finally gets accidentally plugged by his own hired assassin.

I love history and speculative theories are O.K. with me to chew on, especially like the ones presented on the History Channel . But in the DaVinci Code, the theories are spewed out as mini-dissertations which stop all the action on the screen. It would be like a football game where every penalty call had to be followed by a long-winded explanation. Many times throughout the movie I would roll my hand around in hopes the scenes would speed up.

I'm not Catholic but I don't think they need to protest this one (except that it's a lousy movie). Perhaps it will generate more public interest in the Bible and its origins. That would be a good thing.

Copyright 2006 James D. Fisher
All Rights Reserved.