'Code' Comes Off Cursory And Rushed

Ron Howard's 'The Da Vinci Code' Lacks Tension And Character Development

(AP)  The movie is actually more interesting when Robert and Sophie aren't in it — when they're on the run and everyone else is chasing them, from police captain and Opus Dei member Bezu Fache (a perfectly cast Jean Reno) to the opportunistic Bishop Aringarosa (an underused Alfred Molina) to Silas, the sadomasochistic albino assassin monk.

Clearly, this would be a juicy role for anyone to play; Paul Bettany, who also co-starred in Howard's "A Beautiful Mind," manages to do something totally unexpected. He makes us fear Silas and feel sorry for him at the same time. He makes us stare at his naked, scarred body not because the sight of it is gratuitous, but because it helps us understand his need for self-flagellation, the depth of his torment, the extent of his will. All this in just the first few scenes.

And then there's Ian McKellen, who could have walked on a sound stage and read the entire Bible and made it worthy of a $10 movie ticket. As Sir Leigh Teabing, the eccentric millionaire grail expert who provides Robert and Sophie with sanctuary and more answers than they'd hoped for, McKellen flat-out steals every moment he inhabits. He livens things up, immediately and gracefully, as a brilliant but dirty old man wandering around his cluttered French castle with a pair of canes and a mind full of conspiracy theories.

But it's where he leads Robert and Sophie, and ultimately the film itself, that might irk a whole different group we haven't mentioned yet: "Da Vinci Code" purists. We wouldn't dream of giving any secrets away. We'll just say the ending is slightly different, for better and for worse.

Something Robert says as the film reaches its conclusion, though, is more significant than anything else anyone has said about the film — off-screen, that is, not on it.

As Sophie struggles to understand her true identity, Robert tries to assuage her: "What matters is what you believe." Later in the scene, he repeats that phrase, placing the emphasis on the word "you." Surely this is Howard's olive branch to the critics and protesters, who are vocal and organized — his assurance that what he's offering is filmic fiction, and nothing blasphemous intended to undermine anyone's faith.

It's the strongest statement in the entire movie. And it comes far too late.

"The Da Vinci Code," a Columbia Pictures release, is rated PG-13 for disturbing images, violence, some nudity thematic material, brief drug references and sexual content.