I read the book before the film, and I was glad I did. Without a little bit of background info, the film would have been even more confusing. I liked the first 75% of the book a lot, after that I felt the book faded out. I liked the last 25% of the film, the first 75% part was just plain boring, and completely lacked the intensity of the book.
There was no chemistry whatsoever between Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou, which is impressive as I both like them as actors. And I even liked Tom Hanks’ long hair, he looked quite cool with it. But it just wasn’t enough to make it work for me. I found Jean Reno irritating, and Paul Bettany as albino monk, naah come on.
The only real highlight in this film was Ian McKellen. Really fantastic actor, and Brit, but he couldn’t save this film either. The only reason this film gets a 6 is because it has some shots from London. Bonuspoints for that. The Louvre scenes are filmed in the UK too by the way, they rebuilt a part of the museum on the set.
So – should you see it ?
Well if you want to take part in the hype discussion about this film, you might want to. If not, pick another film to spent your money on. Which one ? Well The Squid and the Whale was quite allright actually.
Tagline A murder inside the Louvre and clues in Da Vinci paintings lead to the discovery of a religious mystery protected by a secret society for two thousand years — which could shake the foundations of Christianity.
Directed by Ron Howard
Cast Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, Paul Bettany