The running time is 2 hrs. 29 mins..
Surprise, no, but that doesn't mean this massive success is even remotely deserved.
Howard's picture (featuring a stellar cast headlined by Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Jean Reno, Ian McKellen and Paul Bettany) is as flat as a proverbial pancake. It is a bore, traveling from scene to scene with all the style and grace of a dolphin wriggling hopeless to free itself from a tuna net. Sure, it looks great (Salvatore Totino's cinematography is one of the film's true highlights), and the French and English locales certainly look more or less stunning.
That said, there are only two good things working in The Da Vinci Code's favor, the first being that the film is actually far better than Brown's wildly overblown (and poorly written) novel. While that might not mean much in the grand scope of things, number two certainly does, and that would be Ian McKellen. He is the only thing that makes the motion picture even partially entertaining.
McKellen, one of the true cinematic greats working today, towers above this feature, his performance as Holy Grail fanatic Sir Leigh Teabing is one of the very best supporting performances of the year. He elevates a failure into something nearly palatable by delivering an Oscar-caliber performance in a movie that doesn't even remotely deserve one.
As for the rest, the cast certainly do what they can (although Hanks is shockingly bland as the Indiana Jones/Jack Ryan wannabe at the center of all this) to make lemonade out of Howard's lemons. Try as they might, there isn't enough interesting or entertaining things to do to for it to occur. The movie is a hugely preposterous missed opportunity, the whole thing finally crashing down in an absurd house of cards bordering on the unintentionally hilarious.
Granted, considering the massive success of both book and film my guess is that this critical assessment (and by and large critical consensus) doesn't matter a lick to the literary and movie going masses. The Da Vinci Code has touched a cord with people all over the world, and as much as I think they're wasting their time (and money) who am I to tell them to avoid this new DVD release like the plague.
Realizing this, you'd think Sony would go out of their way to make the DVD release of their biggest 2006 hit something memorable. Instead, other than a plethora of trailers for upcoming films, some DVD-rom features and 11 featurettes (which can all be played as a single documentary) there is nothing here to crow about. Sure this behind-the-scenes smorgasbord talking about filming at the Louvre and exploring sacred British castles is interesting, it's just all so superficial and glossy I felt like I was being re-sold the movie instead of being given an intriguing inside look at Howard and company's filmmaking process.
Speaking of the director, like his recent special edition DVD of Backdraft I get the feeling Howard doesn't appreciate or love this picture as much as he says he does. While there is a brief introduction from the filmmaker, there is no commentary which considering the mammoth popularity of both book and film is a surprise. You'd think Sony would have insisted either he, producer Brian Grazer, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman or author Dan Brown lay down a track. But there is nothing, and part of me can't help but feel this is because those making it knew this was a paycheck piece for them all and nothing more of substance.
Pity, because the story of The Da Vinci Code really is a corker, and with a tighter script and more intense direction this one could have been a lot of fun. Instead it's just forgettable, and I'll start taking bets now that five years from now this DVD release is going to be collecting much-deserved dust in the bargain bin at your local Best Buy or Target.