• In theaters May 19th 2006
• Rated PG-13 for disturbing images, violence, some nudity, thematic material, brief drug references and sexual content
• RunTime: 149 Min
• Matt's rating - 2 out of 5
• Cindy's rating - 2 out of 5

Trailer

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   I will tell you straight up, I bought into the hype. I was hoping for a thrilling mystery that would cause me to stay awake long hours pouring over its detailing and intrigue. I wanted to wrestle with issues of faith and grapple with my own beliefs. Instead I walked out going, "was that it?". Sort of like standing in line for 2 hours for the new roller coaster and 40 seconds later walking off shrugging your shoulders; ready to move on to the next ride with no second thought about the prior.

The story is about a Harvard symbologist, Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) who gets involved with a young French cryptologist (Audrey Tautou) whose Grandfather has been murdered in the Louvre. They discover clues and symbols hidden in the work of Da Vinci that lead to the greatest historical cover up known to man. Facts that would destroy Christianity (supposedly) and change the face of religion forever. Along this journey they have to battle secret sects and elude a monk assassin who could have been Darth Maul's (Star Wars I) albino twin brother.

   Intriguing right? Yeah, could have been. But the writing and story just never took off. What you have is well shot scenes through London and Paris as Hanks and Tautou race to save their own lives and find the actual killers. There are decent characters in the film. Characters that should have been developed more and given a chance to really shine. But often they come off cheesy and campy. I feel as if they hyped up the controversy so much hoping we would miss the mediocrity of the actual movie. But that would be like missing the Grand Canyon because some guy is waiving an orange flag.

   And let's talk about this controversy. It was there. But not to the extent that many would have us believe. I suppose they played on the fact that the Christian community is very quick to react and respond to issues without knowing what is going on. And many played right into their hands. The masses bought the knee jerk response of all the religious talking heads without stopping and thinking for themselves. Which is a problem as old as Christianity itself. Personally, as a Christian, I found nothing in this film to shake or alter my belief in who I know The Christ to be. Plus it is only fiction and not fact. If anything, I thought it an interesting topic of discussion and hope that it leads those who have no prior knowledge of the story to seek out the truth in their own lives.

   If I am upset about anything it is the fact that this could have been a blockbuster movie. But failed. It goes to show that not even hype and controversy can save a poor written story. The Code is rated PG- 13 for disturbing images, violence, some nudity, thematic material, brief drug references and sexual content. It is well over 2 hours long. Luckily it doesn't feel that long and moves with a steady, be it droning pace. I can only give it 2 out of 5. It was simply ruined by the hype. With a look at The Da Vinci Code, I'm Matt Mungle