The Da Vinci Code (DVD)

The Da Vinci Code (DVD)
Considering how impossibly high expectations were for the film version of Dan Brown抯 wildly popular novel, director Ron Howard should be commended for pulling off as sturdy a job as he did. The serpentine plot of Brown抯 metaphysical mystery could itself thwart a small army of directors and screenwriters. Dr. Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), an American scholar specializing in religious symbolism, is summoned to the Louvre one night, ostensibly to help French police captain Bezu Fache (Jean Reno) investigate the murder of another researcher. But when Langdon himself falls under suspicion, he enlists the aid of government agent Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou) and British researcher Sir Leigh Teabing (Ian McKellen) to help solve the mystery -- which, with pertinent clues hidden in paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, involves a 2,000-year-old secret of great significance to all humanity. Downplaying the book抯 most melodramatic and sensationalistic aspects, Howard still has plenty of gothic plotting to deal with. But the film maintains enough momentum to whisk momentarily befuddled viewers past assorted absurdities and gaps in logic. If you let yourself get caught up in the thrill of it all, without searching for any underlying spiritual gravity,The Da Vinci Code offers smashing entertainment. Ed Hulse, Barnes & Noble