I hab a Code...

Okay, that's a pretty lame intro for today's inane blabbering. I'm talking about The DaVinci Code. Anyway, as the Green Bay Packers were trying to hold their own against whoever the hell they were playing last night, trying to ignore the fact that my eldest daughter was wearing a wedge of cheese on her head, I was watching the TDC (as will be known as forthwith) on DVD on my laptop.

I read the book a year ago. It was a good read, typical Dan Brown, in which to say isn't a bad thing...he writes a good story, albeit a bit, um, I don't know, I guess he writes more of a screenplay than a novel. Kind of what I felt about the last Harry Potter novel. I felt as Rowling was writing, she was seeing the words playing out on her mental movie screen, especially the place in the story when Ron and Hermione finally... Well, at least I was. Anyway, back to TDC...

I think if I hadn't read the book first, I would have had a hard time following the movie. Maybe it was the way the movie started, right into an action scene, more or less. And I remember when I first read the casting for the movie...Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon? Wha??? All I could think was, "Run, Forrest, run!!!" as I imagined Langdon running though the Louvre.

Then, the more I thought about it, it made sense to cast someone who could pass off as an academic dropped into a dangerous quest for answers without coming off as Indiana Jones. When I went back and read Angels and Demons, the first Robert Langdon novel, I could "see" Tom Hanks in my head, and it fit pretty good.

Sir Ian MacKellan as Teabring...not the look I envisioned as I read the book, but, I won't complain too much. It's Sir Ian MacKellan. Duh. He could be cast as Mr. Whipple, and I would end up buying stock in Charmin.

I've read a lot of complaints about the casting of Sophie, but after watching the extra DVD where Ron Howard explained that he wanted to cast actors of the same nationality as the character, I could see where an American audience would have difficulty feeling a connection with a foreign actor, because the acting styles are different. I find that foreign acting styles, especially the French (I could be totally wrong about all that) are more sublime than American acting, which for the most part can be over the top so the movie goer gets that feeling of escape. If they wanted a real depiction of human interaction or behavior, just go to the store or a bus station, or some other public place. You know, reality.

I did enjoy the movie, all in all. I did like the book better, as I usually do. I do know that the story created by adjusting facts to be able to write a compelling story around them, but, it's a work of fiction, not a documentary.