The Da Vinci Code (2006)

Wikipedia:

The Da Vinci Code is a 2006 American mystery thriller film directed by Ron Howard, written by Akiva Goldsman, and based on Dan Brown’s 2003 best-selling novel of the same name. The first in the Robert Langdon film series, the film stars Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Sir Ian McKellen, Alfred Molina, Jürgen Prochnow, Jean Reno and Paul Bettany. In the movie, Robert Langdon, a professor of religious symbology from Harvard University, is the prime suspect in the grisly and unusual murder of Louvre curator Jacques Saunière. In the body, the police find a disconcerting cipher and start an investigation. A noted British Grail historian named Sir Leigh Teabing tells them that the actual Holy Grail is explicitly encoded in Leonardo da Vinci’s wall painting, The Last Supper. Also searching for the Grail is a secret cabal within Opus Dei, an actual prelature of the Holy See, who wish to keep the true Grail a secret to prevent the destruction of Christianity.

As Robert Langdon puts it at the end of the movie, “It’s whatever you believe”, and while the question proposed throughout the movie is controversial, it does make for a good movie. I would liken it to Indiana Jones and National Treasure movies as they are all a search for “treasure” of one kind or another.

Symbols, codes, clues, and secret societies fill this movie with intrigue and interest. I also love all the history (however true it actually is) reported throughout the movie to prove the religious theory that the Holy Grail isn’t an object, it’s a person.

I also love the ending, where everything is revealed, and all the mysteries are (somewhat) laid to rest. Tom Hanks, while not a favorite actor, is one I do enjoy watching on the big screen, and Ian McKellen has been in some great movies too. Paul Bettany even makes an appearance. No matter what you believe, it does make a good story and gives us all a little food for thought.

My Ranking: ★ ★ ★ ★

Get it on Amazon.