The Da Vinci Code: Decoden and Broken

An ancient secret leads to a murder mystery and a history mystery. Ron Howard is, on the one hand, a great director. But, on the other hand...well, we'll leave that for later....

An antiquities expert is murdered in order to obtain the secret key to an ancient quest, but, before he dies, with his last breathes he writes a message - a plea for help - that brings symbologist, Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), and French law enforcement cryptologist, Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou), together at the scene of the crime to attempt, in their own ways, to solve the murder mystery and the riddle left by the dying man in The Da Vinci Code. Their journey, which leads them from one ancient site to another and from one set of symbols and puzzles to another, parallels the journey of one of the groups which is in hot pursuit, this group is the odd collection of Catholic Bishops, a monk, and a fictionalized Opus Dei. This suspense thriller keeps you poised with bated breath while the multiple mysteries are one by one unraveled, each step tending to expose more mysteries.

The story of The Da Vinci Code (screenplay by Akiva Goldsman) is, as virtually everyone must know by now, based on Dan Brown's well plotted novel of the same name. But, what is known yet not often enough said is that Brown's novel fictionalizes the academic theory (sometimes scorned by peers) of Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln, authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail. The theory Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln propose in their work is incidentally supported by the independent research conducted by another controversial pair, Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, who are authors of The Hiram Key and Second Messiah.

Langdon and Neveu: A new partnership is begun.

Credit: Simon Mein Columbia Pictures

Copyright: Columbia Pictures