may 18 was a very pumped-up day for me as i hurdle through tv finales, a getaway, and more tv 'finales'. let me start with the "getaway" as it (more plausibly than not) brings the most thrill i've had this entire vacation.

watching "the da vinci code" was the long-standing appointment i have yet to tick off in my mental datebook, and finally i got to do so last thursday with the company of beloved friends -- des and peach. i've been wanting to see this book's big-screen adaptation, and it never occurred to me that i could do so without the clutches of parents or the droll of a bootleg dvd. but the opportunity came from a phone call two weeks ago, and through the powers of technologies like this, our once-in-a-lifetime plan pushed through.

we threesome are a silly bunch, and come hell or high water we wouldn't want the day to pass in vain. we bonded like old times, despite the fact we don't often keep in touch with each other anymore (will resolve that)... and amidst all the hassles we underwent to keep the day right, it ended safe and sound. before i attack the film -- thanks, gals, for sharing thursday with me. *tears of joy*

so this would mark the first time i remember watching a movie on its opening day ... i think the one before that was "titanic", but i wasn't sure (all i knew was that my dad & i caught the first screening of the day). the fact that it has a lengthy 149-minute running time prompted us to catch the earliest screening right after lunch, so we'd have the rest of the day in its hands yet still manage to come home early. we were so enthusiastic about TDVC we overlooked the fact that it was "Rated R" by the censors -- after all, we are legally 18 and above -- that the 'holes from the ticket booth inanely mistook us for spoiled underaged brats. blame it on our youth... youthful faces that is! *hmph*

we got in just right for the show (even got a glimpse of the new 007 movie "Casino Royale"... i want pierce back! :| ) ... tense anticipation evaporated as i sank my eyes around it (how graphic). i savored everything like a child during the course of the film... what's the verdict?

for me, it was middle of the road. not as bombastic / explosive / thrilling as i initially thought, but an engaging one just the same. being partial to source material than film versions, i think TDVC (as some critics say) is "better off read" -- the novel delivers more adrenaline, and it has more wit & substance compared to the movie which reasonably gives TDVC's characteristic 'spunk' only in small doses. (i reread the book -- as i usually do with such -- and still found it exciting.) i just wonder if i'd like the movie if i never read the book.

(mainly offtopic: the Cannes people are really high-nosed snobs... and speaking of which, this pic of tom & audrey was taken at the french island premiere -- audrey is sooo pretty! she looks way cuter here than in the film... pixie cut! =D )

but considering the length & breadth of the novel, of course the film had to scratch out several scenes and sacrifice pivotal moments for changes... TDVC is pretty costly to film, with the locations and props and the casting. so maybe it's tolerable enough. honestly though, i love it that they were able to shoot inside the Louvre, that Chateau Villette was filmed on an actual chateau, and that the Temple Church is real. authenticity is good. ;)

what about everything else? [SPOILERS AHEAD!!! *lol*]



the film in general: yes, with all the cuts & changes i wasn't so happy that some of my favorite scenes were done in a rush, like the cryptology they used to solve sauniere's message... sophie's talent was underutilized, the revelation about her being the central of the story was anticlimactic it left me hanging... as well as the identity of the teacher (the telephone voice was pretty obvious, if you ask me)... langdon could've done more symbology (that's what i like best about him... nerd!) and not just quick decoding ... that they only solved one cryptex... and so on. the dialogues, to the TDVC-uninitiated, may be winding at times. i'm not complaining though. on the other hand, i loved the smartcar chase scene, the airplane & the getaway scene, and also the CGI flashbacks. the ending about robert's solitary discovery of the "holy grail" was done fashionably to wrap up the show -- it was a bit unclear (to me, darn it) in the book. i can say that the transition in TDVC is fine enough i'm going to sit still and be complacent. =)

the cast: oh, come on, i've been waiting to tackle this! hahaha... *wink, wink*
+++ Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon -- despite being able to portray different personas in his many-varied films, tom couldn't nudge me enough to love the movie langdon. he was quite stuffy, and the knowledge robert's supposed to enrapture the audience was toned to a squeaky mininum, which obviously left me a little disappointed. but being impartial (haha), i think it was supposed to be that way (?!). and tom is still my fave actor, even with a subdued performance and a hairstyle / special effect that rivals La Joconde's smoldering gaze... ;p

+++ Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu -- beautiful female lead to begin with. (notice my images? i'm having a girly crush -- noooo!!!) a part of me thinks she & tom are miscast physically, since i think langdon should be played by someone handsome and neveu as someone quite thirtyish (simply looking old). but anyways, that's just me. audrey's cute & frail-looking it seems, but she's got power! as i said earlier, her role may be 'underutilized', but her facial expressions (and physicality, i admit) make up for it. in a bit, she is intense and made me feel so serious about her that i almost never laughed in her comical "walking in water" scene (i should laugh now, a very late reaction) ...

+++ Sir Ian McKellen as Sir Leigh Teabing -- leigh was characterized so wonderfully in the novel i wonder if the film gave him equal treatment... he (nearly) did! i was such a happy wart when ian bounced onto the screen -- in an intercom, that is -- with the arrival of the duo in his chateau. he embraced the grail seeker's mischievousness it was delightful. he delivers the best quips, and acts most convincingly among the leads (the pivotal hostage scene and there on, was exactly what i want to see). no wonder he gets the hottest roles -- gandalf, magneto, even touted as a possible dumbledore back then... ian's brilliant!

+++ Paul Bettany as Silas -- of course, if i talk about leigh then silas should be a close second! *lol* paul is hotttt even with the murderous appearance (i started to lurve this guy in "master & commander"), and his silas does enough justice. self-flagellation aside, silas' got a cute albino butt! ok, i'm getting shameless. (hem, hem) ... but really, he makes the movie compelling with the suspense he offers. he makes his own scenes stand out! but a tiny qualm of mine is that they didn't amp up the melodrama when he died slowly beside bishop aringarosa... it was perhaps the only sequence in the book that made me sniff. (shameless, i really am!) **little tidbit: i caught paul on "the tonight show w/ jay leno" and he told jay that he held tom hanks in such high esteem that he couldn't really hurt him in the chateau break-in take, so they re-took the scene and when he was finally in his element, tom just let out a loud FART in between the shoot! *LOL*

+++ other noteworthy performances would be Jean Reno's Capitaine Bezu Fache... his emotions are very transparent ("A scar on the face of Paris." pretty neat to hear him say that XD ), the character was given importance in the film with the fillings-in of his personality & the gravity of his task. Bishop Manuel Aringarosa (Alfred Molina) is basically different from the one in the book... he comes off quite sketchy as the Opus Dei head, and i found the scene with the Vatican people confusing... he was in one word, tough. some other characters i'd like to point out too would be Jerome Collet (always imagined he'd be younger than fache, olivier martinez always pops in my mind... *ahhhh*) though he's okay anyway, Andre Vernet (a favorite minor character -- like to think he's refined and suave and all) is passably entertaining with his "rolex" stunt, and last but not the least Remy Legaludec (girls, i researched and found out he's played by Jean-Yves Berteloot -- just call him Lootie for me *haha*) is my eye candy for TDVC... he may only be leigh's manservant/butler, but he looks like royalty! curly-haired, tanned, blue-eyed, young -- nothing at all from what i envisioned earlier! am i the only one who found him hot?!? that's impossible! =D

my eyes are tiring out from typing this lengthy critique, and so are yours from reading it, but this is (i guess) everything i could say about TDVC the movie. nothing so scandalous as to ban it from showing, nothing so wildly fantastic as to make people blindly believe -- it's all in the name of pure Hollywood escapism, and i enjoyed the ride. one of the words that the french characters utter in subtitle numerous times is "merde" (wouldn't tell you what that means unless you've seen the film), and in that sense i don't think this movie is one. in true popcornhead fashion, 3 1/2 stars out of a possible 5. =)

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