the da vinci code: my story

just came back from midnight show of The Da Vinci Code. it's 3.30 am in the morning, and i'm still wide awake. i guess i need to write this down before i could sleep in peace :)

most of movie adaptation either from novels, books or comics, or even video games are in sorry-state. it's either the movie sucks, or superbly filmed. examples of good adaptation: LotR trilogies, and The Chronicles of Narnia.

the challenge to bring novels into silver screen is never an easy task. follow the book's plot from cover to cover, we might have a true conversion. but then, there is no reason whatsoever for movie-goers to watch it at cinema. unless, they are too lazy to read the book :) example of a movie where they truly follow the book from cover to cover is Harry Potter and The Philospoher's Stone.

i enjoyed the movie, nevertheless. but something were missing in that movie. i just can't say what are they.

LotR trilogies are good examples of how novels should be adapted. the storylines followed what the book had to say, but the directors added some twitches and scenes, they even discard some parts of the book, all in the name of making the movies more appealing to the movie-goers. all the fuss on "where is Tom Bombadil?" and "there is NO elves during the siege of Helm's Deep!" did not hurt the movies. in fact, Peter Jackson gave us a different LotR that truly stays on the spirit of the original LotR.

back to the main topic of discussion: The Da Vinci Code. i won't tell you the story, for i don't want to be the spoiler. use the Internet. there are spoilers everywhere in the cyberspace.

how do i rate The Da Vinci Code (here onwards, should known as "the movie")? part of me who really enjoy the novel: its kinda dissappointing. part of me who wants to know how are they going to adapt it to the silver screen: it's good :)

let us begin with why i'm kinda dissappointed.

1) the way they potray Robert Langdon. for goodness sake, Robert Langdon is a scholar in religion symbologist, plus he just published his own work of research "The Art of Sacred Feminine". he surely must know all these Holy Grail thingy. for something that empowers the feminin, how da hell could he write about the art of sacred feminine when he himself have no idea about the myth of the Holy Grail? i mean he has the idea, but to the extent that he only knew the basic myth only. totally different from how Dan Brown potrayed Robert Langdon in the novel. *sigh*

2) the painting of "The Last Supper". one of the controversial things brought by Da Vinci Code is the "Hand" that seems like it wanted to chop off "Lady Mary Magdalene"'s head! in the movie, sadly, nobody is talking about that. the explanation about the true identity of the holy grail is supposed to be centered around the painting. but nooo...

3) Opus Dei. in the novel, Opus Dei is the one who is planning to acquire the Holy Grail in order to save its position as the personal prelature of the Pope. but in the movie... *sigh* Opus Dei worked together with the "Shadow Council" of the Vatican to destroy the Holy Grail.

4) the novel seems like having this subliminal message of "the feminine is sacred", "Jesus is only a man", "the greatest story ever told is a lie", and "christian is a religion that uses the pagan elements" and so forth. but in the movie, they kinda focuses on "what is the secret?" and "who is the bloodline of Christ?"

5) this movie is produced entirely on the ground of making profits by riding on the popularity of the novel.

this sucks.

now, reasons why i kinda like the movie:

1) audrey toutue - what's her name - i never thought Sophie Neveu is like that. how i wish that she would just shut-up and stand still doing nothing. she is beautiful and mesmerised.

2) Ian McKellen as Leigh Teabing.

3) i get to know how the Le Inverse in Louvre looks like :)

dun get me wrong. i'm not saying that this movie sucks. its good and entertaining though. it is a difficult task to adapt the whole thing into silver screen.

hurmm...to be just to every party, this movie is good :) it's like how they adapt Harry Potter movies.

Da Vinci Code the movie is entertaining. go watch it, unless you are a purist who demand everything to be exactly as what the book said. there, i've said it. the movie is entertaining :)

and Sophie Neveu is superb..... *drooling*

signing off