~* MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING *~

I've read Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code a long time ago. In some instances, my memory muddles the details from the two books that I am confused whether the detail came from A&D or TDVC. I wish I've re-read The Da Vinci Code in time for the movie... but anyway, I tried very hard to recall the pertinent details so I could compare it to the movie. It's fun to check whether they have faithfully adopted the book or not. Well, apparently not. The "big reveal" at the ending sucks. Where the heck did the "Sophie-has-a-brother-living-with-grandma" detail go?!?

As expected, with all the hype and MTRCB's super late screening of the movie (if I'm not mistaken, they only screened the movie last Tues. to determine its rating), it was hard to get movie tickets for it. As I overheard from someone at Starbucks, he described Powerplant as "parang Mordor [ang pila] dun!". Yeah, people got way too excited to see the movie... what with all the controversy and debate all over the place. Trust that people will go out of their way to do/see something when an authority explicitly prohibits or violently objects doing so. It's fun to break the rules. And it's like morbid curiosity over a road accident. The usi's (usiseros) can't help but slow down and look.

Anyway, I think the Pinoys are overreacting. I-ban ba daw sa Manila?!? What the?!? What's the big deal? So why didn't they ban the Dan Brown book in the bookstores in the first place? Why are they just zeroing in on the movie? I don't recall them spending this much thought and energy over the book when it was sold here in the Philippines years ago! Anyway, I thought of an answer to my own question: I guess it's coz the wide reach/accessibility of the movie was deemed far more threatening than the thick book sitting on the shelves of Powerbooks. The common tao/masa crowd is more likely to watch The Da Vinci Code than read it. Heck, some of them may not even know how to read in the first place! And probably, they are not the fancy page-flipping type who goes to Powerbooks.

I think all the hullabaloo of the anti-Da Vinci Code camp just did Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures more good than bad. And the SM theater group probably feel "sayang" that they couldn't cash in on the insane popularity of the movie coz it was rated R-18 by the MTRCB.

Anyway, going back to my movie experience... First of all, by noontime, we only managed to get tickets to the 10:20pm screening last Fri. And we only managed to get seats at the 2nd row of Promenade. Very 'dizzy up the girl' kind of arrangement. We had premium seats to Tom Hank's bad hair day and receding hairline. Great.

Anyway, having read the book, I couldn't help but compare...

{Am I still obliged to say "WARNING: MOVIE SPOILERS" when I'm almost sure that half of you who's reading this movie review now have already read the Dan Brown novel?}

1. In the book, a photo of Sauniere's corpse was faxed to Langdon. I remember somebody calling him up and waking him up in the middle of the night. To catch his attention, they faxed the symbol-laden dead body of the museum curator to him. In the movie, they showed the photo to Langdon right in the middle of his book signing. That's right, police guys -- Never mind the book fans who might see the shocking gory photo of a crime scene!
2. Hey, didn't Robert and Sophie actually go to a library? I remember descriptions of the old librarian and the search strings in the library's computer/search engine. In the movie, they were suddenly WAP-enabled inside the bus. 'Lang ya... shortcut! Blehhh!
3. I vaguely recall that there were so much clues that unfolded in the book. In the movie, it was just,"voila!" The next thing you know, they're already in Isaac Newton's grave.
4. There were two cryptexes (is that the proper plural form?) in the book. There was a cryptex within the cryptex.
5. And I vividly remember that Langdon was able to figure out the answer to the cryptex coz he looked out the window and saw the apple trees nearby (or remembered seeing the apple trees outside... something to that effect). There was not a single open window in the movie scene, just those tinted cathedral windows.
6. Isn't Teabing supposed to be pudgy? I was thinking of a Danny De Vito body type when I was reading the book. But anyway, Ian McKellen rocks. Surprisingly, I did not see visions of Gandalf in his scenes. He's really good then!
7. Paul Bettany as Silas worked. I even cringed at the self-flagellation scene... very reminiscent of the cringe-worthy scenes in The Passion of Christ.
8. Bishop Aringarosa... hmm, I kept imagining and half-expecting octopus tentacles coming out of his bishop robes! He's still Doc Ock to me.
9. Tom Hanks' bad hair day and shining forehead was pretty much entertaining but when I was reading the book, I was imagining Robert Redford or perhaps Harrison Ford as Robert Langdon. As one site mentioned, Ralph Fiennes would have been a more appropriate Langdon... and I agree.
10. The police's discovery of the tracking devices/gadgets/thingiemajigs aboveTeabing's garage or shack (or was it a barn?) was not in the movie.
11. I don't recall the book saying that Sauniere was NOT Sophie's grandpa.
12. And arggghhh, why did the movie omit the book detail about Sophie's brother who turned out to be the guy in the Rosslyn Chapel living with her grandma?!? Why, why, why?
13. And why the heck were there lots of people in the Rosslyn Chapel? With the manner they emerged one by one in the chapel, I couldn't help but feel like it was a scene from Village of the Damned. Kulang na lang white-haired and red-eyed silang lahat!
14. Didn't the book end with a bit of a romantic angle between Robertand Sophie? Was it in Da Vinci or Angels & Demons wherein the "leading lady" was in Robert Langdon's hotel room?
15. At least they put in the Rolex detail when the bank manager helped Robert & Sophie escape. I like that little scene!
16. As Tin pointed out, in the book, the bank code that Sophie & Robert decided to use was the scrambled one. The movie used the unscrambled one.
17. At least there was a brief shot of the memorable Mickey Mouse watch of Langdon. I almost thought they were not gonna show it in the movie.
18. Was there ever a DIRECT connection shown between Bezu Fache and Bishop Aringarosa in the book? I can hardly recall... I just remember Langdon noticing the button pin on Fache's coat that implied he was an Opus Dei... Anyway, I like Jean Reno. It's a shame he's only got a few scenes in the movie.
19. What is up with Audrey Tautou pulling a Jesus-walks-on-the-water act? I don't recall Sophie was trying to be THAT corny in the book.
20. At least I liked the dramatic last scene in the Louvre pyramid. ("Beneath the stars she rests...")
21. I recall there was so much more Da Vinci paintings, artwork, church architectures, symbolisms and stuff described and explained in detail in the book. I suppose the movie just couldn't afford to dwell into all of that. Or else it would have been an 8-hour movie. And two and a half hours is ass-numbing enough.
    

So did you like The Da Vince Code movie or not?
To those who've read the book, what else did the movie miss?