Based on Dan Brown's best-selling novel, The Da Vinci Code has everything a summer blockbuster should have, but with few of the qualities of a genuinely good movie. The film is, however, guaranteed to do very well commercially. Its central theme - that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and fathered a child - has stirred controversy and provoked religious groups around the world, generating vast amounts of free publicity for the movie. We all love a good conspiracy theory, and The Da Vinci Code features plenty of other hypotheses, which are presented as fact, for audiences to mull over. What's more, the film features a leading Hollywood actor. Tom Hanks plays Professor Robert Langdon, an expert in religious symbols who is suspected of murdering the curator of the Louvre museum. With the help of Sophie, a cryptologist played by Audrey Tautou, he discovers hidden messages in the works of Leonardo da Vinci that suggest the Catholic Church covered up facts about the legend of the Holy Grail. Chasing the pair is a French police officer, boringly played by Jean Reno; an albino monk (Paul Bettany) who, when he is not killing people, spends his time flagellating himself; and a cunning bishop (Alfred Molina) who looks more stupid than evil. But the mastermind behind the killings and the chase is a mysterious man known as 'The Teacher', who wants to unveil the secret of the Holy Grail and rock the foundations of Christianity. His identity, however, is revealed to the audience prematurely, leaving little suspense towards the end of the movie. Given the book's controversial subject, the movie - directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard - is surprisingly flat. Most of the time, we see Langdon and Sophie talking, either to each other or with an old professor, Leigh Teabing (Ian McKellen) - the only interesting character in the movie. A talky thriller? It simply doesn't work. And what happened to Hanks' hair? The cut is dreadful and it makes his character look dull - a word that summarises The Da Vinci Code perfectly. VERDICT: WAIT FOR THE DVD
