The Da Vinci Code

Frankly, I wasn't too thrilled by it. Hanks & Tautou lack the needed chemistry for the lead couple. The romantic angle was totally left out. Quite frankly, I thought the actor best suited for the role was Russell Crowe. Langdon is depicted as a pretty athletic yet brainy chap and Crowe quite clearly fits the character better if you go by his physique & his prior experience playing such characters. Did Ron Howard just tire of Crowe after 'A Beautiful Mind' & 'Cinderalla Man' ?? We'll never know. The best part arguably, was the final scene of the movie & I don't mean it in a sarcastic way. Robert Langdon's (poignantly enacted) realisation of the location of Mary Magdalene's sarcophagus at the picturesque Louvre museum, accompanied by the truly amazing "Chevaliers de Sangreal" by Hans Zimmer in the background is cinematographically majestic indeed. The crescendo of the composition fits in perfectly with the unraveling of Sauniere's verse:

The Holy Grail 'neath ancient Roslin waits.
Adorned in masters' loving art, She lies.
The blade and chalice guarding o'er Her gates.
She rests atlast beneathe the starry skies.

The Louvre was undoubtedly high on my "Places to visit when in Paris" list, and now it just may have displaced Eiffel Tower as #1. And of course, Chevaliers de Sangreal has gone straight to my iPod.