Seen Da Vinci Code? (tradition, gnostic, advent, faith, Christian)

[Booko]

Ok, no spoilers here...I saw Da Vinci Code this morning, and it's been interesting sitting here watching what critics have had to say about it.

Some of the things critics have said:

It's too long
The ending is anti-climactic
It's a "bomb"

Roger Ebert liked it. I have to say, when it comes to critics, that's about the only one I listen to.

Why didn't people at Cannes like this film. I dunno. Snobbery maybe?

My thoughts on it are -- it was not a WOW like LOTR or anything like that, but I thought it was a good movie. It's a murder mystery that just happens to have some serious religious overtones.

I didn't find it to be too long or draggy. Now mind you, I had 4.5 hours of sleep last night. If it was boring, I would have fallen asleep. I didn't.

The ending is anti-climactic. Um, I thought it was more "reflective" actually. Were critics expecting this to be a thriller or action adventure?

It's a bomb? Uh...no. I've seen some bombs before. I've walked out on many. I didn't see anyone walk out, nor did my two movie fiend friends complain about the movie being bad.

I wondered when the movie was announced how they would manage to translate the book into a movie that would work in the alloted space. There are a lot of details that are on screen, but unless you read the book you wouldn't understand it. The offensive Parisien attitude about IM Pei's pyramid at the Louvre is the most notable example. And there are a lot of details on symbology that just couldn't make it into the movie and had to be left out.

I thought the performances were just fine, and the writing was good, as was the directing. If Ron Howard had cut this down to 2 hours, I don't know how it would have made any sense as a murder mystery. It would be omitting necessary things, rather like Dune the movie did. (yuck!)

The characterization was a bit thinner than I would've liked, but again, what can you expect to accomplish in 2.5 hours? If this were done as a 2-day miniseries, maybe there would be more time. But frankly, that might make it draggier too.

[Green Gaia]

No... and I probably won't until comes out to rent. I enjoyed the book but am disappointed with Tom Hanks being cast as the lead. He just doesn't seem to fit the character I had imagined in my head.

[Bishka]

No, I was going to see it today, but I don't like going to movies alone and my husband works late. We are seeing it on his next day off. Possibly even tomorrow.

[Ody]

Nope the whole topic does not interest me at all.

[Buttercup]

Originally Posted by Maize

No... and I probably won't until comes out to rent. I enjoyed the book but am disappointed with Tom Hanks being cast as the lead. He just doesn't seem to fit the character I had imagined in my head.

Ditto for me, word for word.

Also....not surprising critics said the ending was anti-climactic......so was the book. I was very disappointed with the ending and just sat there thinking...."Is that all there is?"

[Booko]

Originally Posted by Maize

No... and I probably won't until comes out to rent. I enjoyed the book but am disappointed with Tom Hanks being cast as the lead. He just doesn't seem to fit the character I had imagined in my head.

No, he didn't, but he did a decent job.

Ian McKellen, otoh, fit what I thought of Sir Teabing and was absolutely mahvellous!!! (When has he ever turned in a *bad* performance???)

[Feathers in Hair]

I kind of want to go see it, but only because one of my favorite actors, Paul Bettany, is in it. It'll be interesting to see if he worked out for the role, since the character (the monk, I think his name is Silas?) seems to be very physically powerful. As much as I like him, extreme buff-itude is not the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Paul Bettany.

I get kind of annoyed at one of our local television news (on NBC). They have a reoccuring segment that's called "Matter of Faith", which sounds like it would include all things religious, but it only seems to focus on Christian issues. They devoted the last three weeks worth of weekly installments to discussing reaction to the movie in the Christian community. It would have been nice for them to get some Gnostic viewpoints or even simply ones from a goddess-centered tradition. Ah, well. I know that's more whining than discussion, so I'll stop!

[Booko]

Originally Posted by AlanGurvey

Nope the whole topic does not interest me at all.

I'm a murder mystery fan, so for me it's not so much the topic.