Leonardo deve vincere

[undyingking]

We went last night to see The Da Vinci Code, for reasons which are too complicated to go into here. Much to my surprise it was actually not too bad. I mean, it was a load of cheesy old nonsense of course, but not bad in a "Must.. claw... out... eyes!" kind of way. I haven't read the book, but it seemed like the main thing that people complained about in that (the dreadful writing) had been pretty effectively filtered out, barring the odd stretch of clunky dialogue.

It was interesting to see the way that Brown had drawn on the source material. I'm pretty familiar with it, having done a fair chunk of UNEXPLAINED around the Priory of Sion etc, and it seemed to me that he had gone about cherry-picking his desired elements and constructing his plot in a very game-like manner. Puzzles and other thinky bits reveal the reasons to move between episodic encounters, key NPCs undergo the familiar arcs of trust / enmity, the characters' expectations are regularly overturned, and the encounters themselves are a classic mix of waffly exposition and combat relying on implausible odds to survive. Is Dan Brown a gamer? Inquiring minds demand to know.

Comments

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

Had they actually done any filming at Royal Holloway in the end? That's the only thing I'm curious about, and definitely not sufficiently curious to pay cinema prices to see the damn thing.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

As far as I could make out, Royal Holloway played no part in the action whatsoever. I guess it was cut.

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

Or may not have been there in the first place. What I heard last year from what ought to have been a reliable source was that RHUL had had the temerity to ask for money from the production to allow them to film there, and the production had thrown a hissy fit and said "but think of all the publicity! How can you turn this down?"

'Course, that'd be publicity involving one of your fictional alumni not being able to spot mirror writing. ;)

[wimble.livejournal.com]

When I read it, it was awful. It probably still is ;-) But I did think that most of the real bits of awfulness would be things that were either not noticable in a film (eg, there are inconstencies in the physical descriptions), or would be expected (eg, the book gratuitously, and incorrectly, includes the Arc de Triomphe in the initial drive around Paris. However, it's a sign of location filming ;-)

On the other hand, I've heard that the contraversial "real" information in the book (the nature of Leonardo's paintings) is not really attended to in the film (because looking at pictures isn't very cinematic) and the location shooting in the Louvre is a waste of effort.

Then there's the final problem: if the protagonists hadn't got involved in the first place, then things would have probably worked out much better, as the entire plot could probably have been resolved by the relevant person simply reading her newspaper...

Hang on: you're right. Must be a gamer!

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I've heard that the contraversial "real" information in the book (the nature of Leonardo's paintings) is not really attended to in the film (because looking at pictures isn't very cinematic)

T sad she felt that in the book this stuff was delved into in too much detail, and the abbreviated handling of the film was more palatable. From my own pov of not having read the book, I felt there was enough of it in the film to "make sense".

and the location shooting in the Louvre is a waste of effort.

The interiors are, yes, and indeed all the interesting shots were mocked up afterwards at Pinewood I believe. But the exterior stuff is worth having I think, the big glass pyramid and so on.

Then there's the final problem: if the protagonists hadn't got involved in the first place, then things would have probably worked out much better, as the entire plot could probably have been resolved by the relevant person simply reading her newspaper... Hang on: you're right. Must be a gamer!

Exactly ;-)

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

It was interesting to see the way that Brown had drawn on the source material.

By which you mean, I assume, the prior works of various more talented authors ?

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. I have always had great respect for the Holy Blood / Holy Grail authors, they did an excellent job of work.