Sunday, May 21, 2006

The Da Vinci Code

As promised people I went to watch The Da Vinci Code with Vivy today. The real movie critics out there in this world are not so ecstatic with this movie and neither am I. Sigh. What can I say, first and foremost: Stick to the freaking book! So many things were different from the book. It is expected when a movie is being made based on a book, but this one were too much that it crippled the movie. Tom Hanks' character, Robert Langdon, didn't carry as much conviction about the holy grail as the character in the book. Audrey Tautou was beautiful, but her character's contribution in the whole conquest was pretty much dismissed. She helped solve many parts of the clue and yet, she was depicted as pretty much lost and rather too frail. Paul Bettany's Silas was not too bad. His entrance in many crucial parts of the movie did surprise me, but he also was depicted rather too evil, when actually he just had so much heart for his faith. Bishop Aringarosa was depicted as sneaky and cunning until the end, when he was actually quite compassionate and also had so much faith for his belief. It was rather an unfair ending for both of them. A scene that could be rather moving ended up without much emotion. Ian McKellen as Sir Leigh Teabing was decent, however he alone wasn't enough to bring excitement in this holy grail controversy. There were many unnecessary dramatic lines being said. Totally unnecessary. I just wanted it to get done and over it and just move on! At times it felt rather too silly. I do have to applaud the movie for not following the book in which, Robert and Sophie kissed and promised to be reunited later on. I felt it was rather too Hollywoody and thank God as much as the ending for them was rather too lame, it didn't get lamer like the book.

All the points above actually did not contribute that much in making this movie disappointing. The controversy that came in the book just did not come out in the movie. I am actually wondering if they toned it down. I know there are too many things in the book to fit 2 hours of the movie, but I just feel that the movie lack the conviction or the controversy of the book. It wasn't convincing or perhaps telling? More "historical facts" should have been elaborated more. Even the way they tell the plot about the murder and the villain wasn't really that amusing. It didn't engage and interest you as much as the book. The book makes you wanna read more and more but the movie is just okay. Overall, the movie which was expected to be a threat, didn't give much shock at all. I think this whole Da Vinci thing is overrated. Some of the historical facts are interesting but in the end many parts of it are based on assumption. Many documentaries had been made and shown on TV to educate us, and most of them do not support the theory in the Da Vinci Code. I personally think the recently found and translated, The Gospel of Judas to be more disturbing.

After the movie, me and Vivy went for lunch, in which we saw Roy, Elita, Margie, Siska, and many others having their lunch. It was kinda funny, because I first noticed Roy but I wasn't sure if it was him and I think he felt the same way when he saw me Seeing Roy made me wanna write about something which came to my attention recently, however since people actually read this, I couldn't write it just yet without incriminating several people. So we will see if I would actually write it later on.

Thierry Henry decided to stay in Arsenal. I am so glad Before I heard the news, I actually told someone something which I connected with Thierry Henry's need to decide if he was gonna stay in Arsenal or move to Barca. The guy didn't listen, so whatever. Then the Mr called me and said that he was indeed staying in Arsenal. I told the Mr what I told the guy, and so the Mr summed it up really well, but we indeed must wait and see, Mr. Okay, gonna stop now, took me almost 2 hours to write this, because I was writing while watching Singapore Idol. Couldn't believe that the last one was actually 2 years ago. It seemed like so recently. See how I really spend my life here *sigH*

:) eKa @ 7:55:00 PM •