The Da Vinci Code (Special Edition
Giftset) starring Tom Hanks, Audrey
Tautou, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno,
Paul Bettany
Love That Blu-Ray Davinci!
Critics and controversy aside, The Da Vinci Code is a verifiable
blockbuster. Combine the films huge worldwide box-office take with over
100 million copies of Dan Browns book sold, and The Da Vinci Code has
clearly made the leap from pop-culture hit to a certifiable franchise. The
leap for any story making the move from book to big screen, however, is
always more perilous. In the case of The Da Vinci Code, the plot is
concocted of such a preposterous formula of elements that you wouldn’t
envy screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, the man tasked with making this story
filmable. The script follows Dan Brown’s book as closely as possible while
incorporating a few needed changes, including a better ending. And if
you’re like most of the world, by now you’ve read the book and know how it
goes: while lecturing in Paris, noted Harvard Professor of Symbology
Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is summoned to the Louvre by French police
to help decipher a bizarre series of clues left at the scene of the murder of
the chief curator. Enter Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou), gifted cryptologist.
Neveu and Langdon team up to solve the mystery, and from there the
story is propelled across Europe, ballooning into a modern-day mini-quest
for the Holy Grail, where secret societies are discovered, codes are
broken, and murderous albino monks are thwarted… oh, and alternative
theories about the life of Christ and the beginnings of Christianity are
presented too, of course. It’s not the typical formula for a stock Hollywood
thriller. In fact, taken solely as a mystery, the movie almost works--despite
some gaping holes--mostly just because it keeps moving. Brown’s greatest
trick was to have the entire story take place in one day, so the action is
forced to keep moving, despite some necessary pauses for exposition. As
a screen couple, Hanks and Tautou are just fine together but not exactly
memorable; meanwhile Sir Ian McKellen’s scenery-chewing as pivotal
character Sir Leigh Teabing is just what the film needed to keep it from
taking itself too seriously. The whole thing is like a good roller -coaster ride:
try not to think too much about it--just sit back and enjoy the trip. --Daniel
Vancini
Visit The Da Vinci Code Store On The DVD
The DVD extras on a film as popular as The Da Vinci Code should be
plentiful, and this version doesn’t skimp. With over 90 minutes of special
features, including ten behind-the-scenes featurettes, there’s a lot here to
explore beyond the film itself. The question is, is there anything new here
that we haven’t heard before, in all the hype, pseudo-documentaries, and
controversy surrounding the movie, to make it worthwhile? For most
viewers, the answer will be yes. Essentially, if you like the movie, if you
enjoyed the book, you will get a lot out of them. Just as the movie is
intended to make the book come to life, the DVD extras should make the
film come to life by pointing the audience into the world of the filmmakers,
connecting the dots between pri nt and film, and for the most part they do
just that. The extras here range from the typical look behind-the-scenes to
more in-depth features on the supporting characters, the locations, and the
Mona Lisa herself. First Day on the Set with Ron Howard features the
director gushing about the opportunity to film in the Louvre and work with
Tom Hanks again (the two worked together before on Splash and Apollo
13). It’s a short piece that doesn’t reveal much beyond making an attempt
to share Howard’s excitement (with the Gee, I really loved working with
him/her on this project that you hear in every such featurette), but viewers
might enjoy seeing how the stage was set up in the famous museum,
down to the spike tape on the floor showing actors where to hit their marks.
The Filmmaking Experience, Parts 1 and 2 further explores the creative
and technical aspects of the filmmaking process. A Conversation with Dan
Brown starts out feeling like a puff-piece (the man who wrote this book got
started at age 5 with a story called The Giraffe, The Pig, and the Pants on
Fire. It was a thriller, he says.) and unfortunately it doesn’t go very deep
into much of anything of interest. But on the other hand, this isn’t 60
Minutes here; it’s intended to give viewers a better sense of the man
behind the franchise, which it does. Much of the footage from this
interview is sprinkled throughout some of the other featurettes. Meanwhile,
the character behind the franchise, Robert Langdon, is examined in his
own featurette, as is Sophie Neveu. The cool thing here is getting under
the skin of the actors to see how they approached the characters, knowing
that most of the movie-going public already has formed their own ideas
about the characters from the book. The most interesting extras are the
featurettes that focus on the history behind the mystery. Or is it the
mystery behind the history? Either way, the first one on the Mona Lisa,
and the second featurette on the many codes and symbols that are hidden
throughout the movie balance out the remainder of the extras nicely by
demonstrating the sense of intrigue, mystery, and game-playing adventure
that made The Da Vinci Code so popular in the first place. --Daniel Vancini
Beyond The Da Vinci Code
The Films of Tom Hanks
The Films of Ron Howard
The Da Vinci DVDs: Decoding The Da Vinci Code
More About The Artist
Stills from The Da Vinci Code (click for larger image)
I own the original 2 Disc version of this movie, and I was so pleased that
this new version offered so much more (around 7 additional scenes not
seen in theaters or offered on the original 2 Disc set). Plus being in Blu-
Ray the sound and picture are so much better. I would highly recommend
this version to anyone who is a fan of the Dan Brown stories or this movie.
It is my hope that when the next upcoming film (Angels & Demons) is
released on DVD & Blu-Ray that it will include a similar set up.
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