The Da Vinci Code

Not since a boy wizard strayed into Hogwarts has a book captured the public imagination quite like Dan Brown's hugely enjoyable historical conspiracy thriller.

Boasting worldwide sales in excess of 40 million copies, The Da Vinci Code is a literary phenomenon, which has enraged religious groups, infuriated scholars and propelled Brown to the top of the bestseller lists, via the High Court.

Riding into cinemas on the crest of a tidal wave of hype and expectation, Ron Howard's film is, inevitably, a disappointment.

Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman remains faithful to the source novel but it's evident from the outset that the page is a far more forgiving medium than the screen for Brown's clumsy dialogue and gargantuan leaps of logic.

The twists and turns of the serpentine plot, which seem only faintly ridiculous in the privacy of our imagination, seem so much more laughable in a darkened auditorium.

Howard relies on director of photography Salvatore Totino to conjure a mood of grim foreboding in the spooky opening sequence in the Louvre and the horrific scenes of monk Silas selfflagellating, his skin oozing blood with every brutal stroke.

Hanks and Tautou gel nicely but fail to make much impact - their characters are slaves to the mechanics of the plot - so the film relies on the supporting cast.

Sir Ian McKellen delivers a boisterous turn as historian Sir Leigh Teabing, striking the right note between camp and eccentric.

Paul Bettany is impressive too, portraying Silas as a more tragic and sympathetic figure than the cold-hearted killer of the book, although his accent lends a ring of unintentional comedy to some of the dialogue.

As with the book, the film gets under way with Harvard professor Robert Langdon (Hanks) being summoned to the Louvre in Paris where the elderly curator has been slain. The dead man's final act is a baffling riddle written in invisible ink.

Working alongside Sauniere's granddaughter, cryptologist Sophie Neveu (Tautou), Robert begins to solve the conundrum and realises that the secret lies in the work of Leonardo Da Vinci.

It also becomes apparent that the French police, led by Captain Bezu Fache (Reno) and Lieutenant Jerome Collet (Chicot), are convinced the professor is their murderer. Escaping from the Louvre with Sophie, Langdon tracks down aristocrat Sir Leigh Teabing (McKellen) to help break the code.

Meanwhile, a shadowy figure known as The Teacher entreats Bishop Aringarosa (Molina) and his protege, masochistic albino assassin Silas (Bettany), to stop Langdon at all costs.

Screenwriter Goldsman pares down the intellectual gymnastics of the book, omitting extraneous characters and diversions. The couple's escape from the Louvre in Sophie's Smart car is elevated to an action sequence reminiscent of The Bourne Identity, and there are noticeable changes to the denouement.

Goldsman saturates the film with flashbacks - Sophie and Robert's childhoods, Emperor Constantine's death, Sir Isaac Newton's funeral elegantly accomplished with computer special effects.

As history lessons go - albeit one with wild leaps of imagination and supposition - The Da Vinci Code is easily digestible. However, these frequent glimpses of the past drag out the running time to an uncomfortable 148 minutes.

Unlike the paintings in the Louvre, Howard's film is no masterpiece.