“Da Vinci” tops box office and stirs controversy over weekend
Audiences lined up this past weekend for one of the long-awaited releases of the year.
“The Da Vinci Code” topped the weekend box office, grossing over $77 million in the U.S. and $224 million worldwide.
The clamor for the film was due mostly to the success of the book by Dan Brown, which has sold more than 60.5 million copies.
But despite whatever success the film has at the box office, it is being chastised by critics everywhere.
“I was looking forward to it,” said Broadcasting and Cinematic Arts Associate Professor Ken Jurkiewicz. “The book seemed like a no-brainer as a thriller but the main problem is Ron Howard is clumsy at building suspense and it made the film very dull.”
Howard (“Ransom,” “Apollo 13”) directed “The Da Vinci Code” despite numerous political and technical obstacles, but he tried to cram the entire book into two and a half hours.
Tom Hanks (“Forrest Gump”) stars as Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor caught in the middle of a murder investigation inside the Louvre Museum.
Clues are left behind that lead Langdon to unravel a religious mystery that has been protected for centuries by a secret society.
The film is filled with what seems lecture after lecture, with an occasional chase scene thrown in.
“It seemed like the characters were walking speeches,” Jurkiewicz said. “James Bond and Indiana Jones are more credible characters than the ones in this movie.”
Fans of the book were somewhat disappointed after viewing the film as well.
“Obviously the book was better,” said St. Clair Shores graduate student Tom Delia. “But it’s difficult to put a book like ‘The Da Vinci Code’ into a two and half hour-long movie.”
The Catholic Church has been worried not only about the book, but about the movie’s ability to change people’s minds about Christianity.
Some in the church have even encouraged boycotting the movie, saying it is a slap in the face to Catholics.
But most seem to realize it is just a book or just a movie.
“It’s another perspective on the story, that’s all,” Delia said.
