Monday, May 22, 2006

The Da Vinci Code - The movie v The Book

Wrote this entry on the day after I saw the Da Vinci Code but forgot to post it---

The most awaited movie of the year has finally been released!!

Being a big fan of "The Da Vinci code" (TDVC) I went on the first day (but not the first show) of opening. Me and another TDVC fan were eagerly waiting for May 19th and had virtually read every news/bit/info about the movie.

First the logistics: The movie was marketed well and here in Ann Arbor it was released in a 20 screen multiplex called Showcase Cinemas, to be sure, we had booked tickets on the net but later found out at the theatre that there was no shortage of them on the spot. The reason being that TDVC was being shown on 6-7 screens parallely!!! we were amazed and praised America yet another time...:-)

The movie as such as good or even great! but paled in comparison to the Novel. I somehow felt that the production team had a tough job on hand, trying to make a movie on such a complex subject/story is not easy. There was just too much information in the book to which justice can't be done in a 3 hrs movie, hence we saw all the historical facts mentioned in the books being shown as some kind of background images which moved quickly. I really wondered if people who had not read the book would have really made out the story!

Probably a TV mini series of a total of 6 hrs would have been better but then it won't have made as much money for the producers.

The cast was just Perfect. Tom Hanks was superb and so was Audrey Tautou.

In India the movie was banned in some states, its really funny because all the christian countries are showing it. Why our Indian christians alone are so conservative I don't understand. There were news reports that in some states even the muslims objected to the movie!!! I fail to understand why...