FauxNixon

This adaptation of the book does nothing but shave off the important and interesting parts of the novel and then tries to cram what’s left into a more-or-less cookie-cutter Hollywood plot, and ineffectively, at that.   Director Ron Howard casts Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, Paul Bettany, and Alfred Molina in what can best be described as an interpretation of the plot as conceived by author Dan Brown.  Robert Langdon (Hanks) is a respected symbologist and is called to the Louvre late at night to find a mysterious murder scene.  Suspected of having committed the murder by Captain Bezu Fauche (Reno) he is questioned and then escapes and begins an adventure that is an attempt to solve a mystery said to be as old as the Catholic Church itself; that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene, they had children, and that the family line continues even to this day, protected by a secret organization.The film’s acting is solid which is expected given the accomplished nature of the cast selected, but the adaptation of the book to a movie format leaves out many of the very crucial details that made the book so interesting to so many people.  Instead of something novel and thrilling, oftentimes during the movie the audience is bored and expectant of the same cliched thriller cinema mechanisms used to build tension and surprise.

Perhaps the worst choice was the casting of Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon.  He appears ridiculous, performs incredulously and is utterly unconvincing in the role, seeming to almost be reading the lines from off-screen cue cards.

All told the movie is certainly watchable, but it’s not anywhere near the quality that it might’ve been with some different choices.