The Da Vinci Code

When I read The Da Vinci Code I was immediately gripped by how fantastic it was. The book was absolutely impossible to put down and so I was naturally a bit sceptical about whether the film could live up to the success of the book. I don’t think it does, but it is a very faithful adaptation which I feel was made to capitalise on the success of the book rather than anything else.

For those of you who haven’t read the book and don’t know the story, firstly you really should. Secondly, the film is about a professor called Robert Langdon who is accused of murdering the curator of the Musee du Louvre. He becomes embroiled in a quest to find the Holy Grail with a woman called Sophie Neveu which takes a fair few twists and turns on the way. It is a thrilling story from beginning to end, but as with many films that build on the success of a novel, it doesn’t even come close to being as entertaining as Dan Brown’s book. As a film it is fairly average, but because it is building on something so successful it seems to be much better.

It stars Tom Hanks who is, as ever, wonderful to watch. He has such a fantastic on-screen presence and a tremendous ability to ‘become’ every character that he plays. For me, now that I have seen the film, I cannot picture anyone else as Langdon, and when I read The Lost Symbol relatively recently, it was Hanks who I was visualising in my mind. However, his acting performance isn’t incredible. It is not a particularly taxing role I shouldn’t imagine, and beyond reading the book a couple of times there is not much that is required beforehand with regard to dedication to the role. I really like Tom Hanks, but this isn’t one of his better roles. That doesn’t mean that it is one of his worst though.

In my opinion, the star of the show was Paul Brittany who played the monk Silas. In the book he is a very scary character and poses quite an intimidating threat throughout. It was always going to be difficult to translate this on to the screen. I have recently seen a fair few films with Paul Bettany in and so I was quite surprised to learn that it was he who played Silas in The Da Vinci Code. I just completely didn’t recognise him and he played his character very well. While he wasn’t as imposing as in the book, there are very few genuinely haunting performances. Silas is, I feel, intended as a haunting character and this is difficult enough to convey in words let alone on screen.

There are a number of other stars in supporting roles. Ian McKellen is perfect in the role of the English gentleman Leigh Teabing and provides a good voice to convey much of the grail legend to Langdon, Neveu and the audience. The actress who plays Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou – better known for her role in Amelie) doesn’t particularly stand out, but like I said, it is quite difficult to excel in such an adapted role. Alfred Molina does very well as the leader of Opus Dei, but he too suffers from the same hangover from the book as most of the other cast. Ultimately, this film only serves to provide a visualisation of the book in my opinion. There is nothing about it which makes it stand out from any other film.

I did like the way that the symbolism was portrayed in the film as it makes up such a major part of the book. All four of Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon books feature the symbolism in popular culture as a major theme and this contributes to the astounding success of the series. As a result, there must have been a lot of pressure on the film to deliver this in a convincing and realistic way. Director Ron Howard does this very well and stays true to the vast majority of the meaning in the book.

Ultimately, this is a very hard film to make because of the obvious comparisons to the book. Personally, I don’t think it is a bad film at all, but it does suffer from the inevitable comparisons to the book. The casting is (mostly) spot on, and the presentation of the story is brilliant, but because of how incredible the book was, the film tends to suffer. If you wanted to watch the film then I cannot advise you strongly enough to read the book first. I guarantee it will keep you entertained for so long, but if you watch the film first then a lot of the twists and turns of the novel will be lost because of how well they are written. 

Other films starring Tom Hanks:

Saving Private Ryan - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/saving-private-ryan.html

Forrest Gump - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/forest-gump.html

Another film starring Paul Bettany:
A Beautiful Mind - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/a-beautiful-mind.html

Other films starring Ian McKellen:

The Lord of the Rings (Part 1) - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/lord-of-rings-part-1.html

(Part 2) - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/lord-of-rings-part-2.html

(Part 3) - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/lord-of-rings-part-3.html

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-hobbit-unexpected-journey.html

Saving Private Ryan

First of all, this post is coming a day later than normal. I was moving house yesterday and there was a bit too much going on for me to post. I hope no-one minds this coming on Sunday. This one is about Saving Private Ryan.

In my opinion, Saving Private Ryan is the definitive modern war film. It is an absolutely classic film, and one of Steven Spielberg’s greatest. It follows a group of soldiers who are on a mission to save Private Ryan. All of his brothers have been killed in action and the American high command feel that sending Private Ryan home is the best thing to do for his mother. The soldiers, led by Tom Hanks, track down Private Ryan and attempt to take him away from the war.

Tom Hanks plays Captain Miller, who is in command of the group of soldiers. There is a certain air of mystery about him for the majority of the film because while we find out little bits about the other soldiers we know very little about him. Tom Hanks is absolutely marvellous in this role though. As with most of his roles, the emotion he puts into his character is phenomenal and his command of the screen is incredibly engaging. His role as Captain Miller just adds to the long list of phenomenal roles Tom Hanks has starred in. His dedication is amazing, and the hand tremor that his character shows for much of the film is so perfectly portrayed by Hanks that it is slightly present even when it is not in focus. There’s not really much else to say about him in this role though. There’s not much more to it. He’s fantastic.

Despite being the title character, Private Ryan (Matt Damon) isn't in the film for very long at all. The band of soldiers finds him very late on, and from there the film is building up to the final battle. Matt Damon does very well in this role, but it is quite difficult to critique him too much because he just isn't in it for very long.

It is the other soldiers that I want to talk about. The band of actors who play the soldiers in Captain Miller’s command are a joy to watch. Between them they manage to perfectly convey the little family that each troop comes to represent, and the collective grief, anger and shock when one is killed is portrayed fantastically. Each actor brings a fantastic sense of camaraderie to the film. They are all very likeable in their own individual way, and there are a lot of familiar faces in there. Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi (from Friends), Adam Goldberg (Friends and A Beautiful Mind), Barry Pepper (The Green Mile, Enemy of the State, True Grit) and Tom Sizemore (Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor) jumped out at me. Jeremy Davies particularly excelled for me though, as the nervous and obviously out of place Upham. He is taken from his ‘desk job’ and planted into full combat, and does very well conveying this struggle. I found myself liking Upham increasingly right up until the final battle where his lack of hardened soldier-ness shines through. In many ways it is this team of soldiers that completes the film, rather than one actor.

Saving Private Ryan is a horribly honest film. Its depiction of the war is horrendously graphic. The scene at the beginning where the soldiers are taking the beach is one of the most graphic and gory scenes I have ever watched. The effects were absolutely phenomenal and the wounds that they convey are 100% believable. The whole thing is very gritty and is the most accurate depiction of a war that I have ever seen (though I have never been in a war so I don’t have anything to compare it to). This can only be a good thing. No film should ever try to depict a war if it is not whole-heartedly conveying just how horrendous and graphic it is. The first half and hour left me a bit shocked, so you can only imagine what it must have been like to have witnesses it first hand.

The direction of the film is breathtaking as well. Spielberg continues his interest with the Second World War and makes the film as nail-biting and realistic as is possible. Some of his off-screen direction is what really credits his abilities as a director though. The actors playing the soldiers were trained for military portrayals, and Matt Damon was deliberately left out of this so that he would be resented by the group. This comes across beautifully in the film, and the sincerity with which the soldiers question the loss of a fellow officer for one Private pays testament to this. Also, Spielberg did not storyboard the first battle scene because he wanted it to be spontaneous. It certainly is that, and the action that plays out in front of you is very impressive.

Saving Private Ryan is the ultimate war film, and is a wonderful piece of cinema. I can’t say much beyond impressing the importance of the film. Simply for the reality it portrays and for the engaging atmosphere of the whole thing this is not a film to miss. It should be a must-see on everybody’s list.

Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump is a classic movie. Released in 1994, and starring Tom Hanks as the lovable Forrest Gump, it is a light-hearted film about a simple man who has been surprisingly influential in the history of the United States. He is hopelessly in love with his best friend, and in contrast to his influence on history, often has a negative effect on her life.

The plot of Forrest Gump is absolutely magnificent. From very early on in the movie it is plain to see that Forrest is not your ‘average’ person, and as he tells his life story the audience, as well as the characters listening to his tale, begin to realise just how extraordinary he is. For example, teaching Elvis how to dance is just one of the prominent roles he has to play in shaping American culture. It is exceptionally well-written and the audience cannot help but become emotionally attached to the character. However, the amount of humour in the film is refreshing. It contrasts to other films about special needs (such as Rain Man) or the Vietnam War (such as Platoon) because the way it deals with these subjects is serious, but funny at the same time. You find yourself laughing lovingly at the little quirks in his character and the effects they have on the world.

Tom Hanks is a fantastic actor, there is no doubt about that, and Forrest Gump is the crowning example of this. The character that he becomes is so perfectly complete that I cannot help but admire him. It is very rare that an actor putting on an accent talks with this accent for the duration of the film, but Tom Hanks is flawless. Most impressive though is how convincing his character is. Forrest is completely believable and once you get into the film you stop noticing Tom Hanks is the actor. It is almost as if Forrest becomes a person in his own right. To be able to do this to a character is an incredible achievement, and Tom Hanks undoubtedly deserves the Academy Award for Best Actor for this role. This is even more impressive when you consider that he was up against Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption) and John Travolta (Pulp Fiction) for the award.

The character of Jenny, played by Robin Wright, is a source of heartbreak, both for Forrest and also for the audience. Because Forrest is so lovable, and it is obvious that he doesn’t understand certain things the audience is very sympathetic when he makes a mistake around her. However, during her youth she begins to get quite impatient with this as it affects her relationships with others. Despite being such a pivotal figure in American history, this man is unable to marry the woman he loves. When they eventually do ‘get together’ it is under a dark cloud, and when this dark cloud bursts it is genuinely sad.

The character of Lieutenant Dan Taylor is another interesting one. After surviving Vietnam, he and Forrest go into the shrimping business and make a lot of money. However, he is very bitter and it is only the shrimping business that manages to brighten his spirits. Gary Sinise is very good as Dan Taylor. Playing a character with no legs is not easy, and Sinise manages to be as convincing as Tom Hanks in this role. Dan Taylor is a typical soldier, and seems to wish that he had been killed in battle, just as his ancestors had. The interaction between Gump and Taylor, and Hanks and Sinise, is very good to watch, and added to my enjoyment of the middle part of the film.

The visual effects in Forrest Gump are marvellous. It won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, and this is unsurprising after you watch it. The ability of the film producers to splice two separate film streams together is masterful. Although at times it is glaringly obvious, it is more often than not a very entertaining segment of the film. The particular highlight is when he is presented with the Medal of Honour by the President and bares his backside. The actual CGI isn't anything to write home about, but the video splicing is exceptional.

Forrest Gump is an absolute must-see film. I know I say this about a lot of films, but it is an absolutely magnificent piece of film-making. It beat both The Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction to the Best Picture Award in 1994, which says more than I can about how good it is. I cannot recommend it highly enough.