'Da Vinci' Ignites Global Passion
17.05.2006 09:43 - category: Category two: Sub category 1 - Source: CBS
(CBS/AP) The year's most anticipated movie, "The Da Vinci Code," an adaptation of the monster best selling thriller that stems from a cover-up of secrets about Christianity's roots is stirring up passions.
While readers worldwide devoured Dan Brown's novel, reaction from Cannes critics ranged from mild endorsement of its potboiler suspense to groans of ridicule over its heavy melodrama.
The movie drew lukewarm praise, shrugs of indifference, some jeering laughter and a few derisive jabs Tuesday from arguably the world's toughest movie crowd: critics at the Cannes Film Festival.
"It's a movie about whether the greatest story ever told is true or not, and it's not the greatest movie ever screened, is it?" said Baz Bamigboye, a film columnist for London's Daily Mail. "As a thriller, well," he continued, shrugging.
"Maybe the next day I'll forget about it," said Igor Soukmanov of Unistar Radio in Belarus. "But today for two hours it was good entertainment. ... As a Hollywood movie, it's a very nice picture."
Critics got their first look at "The Da Vinci Code" a day before its world premiere at Cannes on Wednesday, when it also debuts at theaters in France and some other countries. The film opens worldwide over the following two days, including the United States on Friday. A gala in Beijing will show the movie an hour before its "official worldwide premier" in Cannes.
In London, the apparently unstoppable train of publicity took the form of an actual train here as the movie's stars and notables headed for a trip to the Cannes film festival for tonight's opening, CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reports.
Directed by Ron Howard, the movie stars Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou as strangers hurled together on a frantic quest for the Holy Grail after a series of murders is committed.
The filmmakers add some twists and variations here and there, but the general thrust of the novel remains intact, including its theory that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene were married and had a child. Variety calls is a "subversively revisionist view of Jesus Christ's life."
The movie has prompted denouncements from many Christians.
While readers worldwide devoured Dan Brown's novel, reaction from Cannes critics ranged from mild endorsement of its potboiler suspense to groans of ridicule over its heavy melodrama.
The movie drew lukewarm praise, shrugs of indifference, some jeering laughter and a few derisive jabs Tuesday from arguably the world's toughest movie crowd: critics at the Cannes Film Festival.
"It's a movie about whether the greatest story ever told is true or not, and it's not the greatest movie ever screened, is it?" said Baz Bamigboye, a film columnist for London's Daily Mail. "As a thriller, well," he continued, shrugging.
"Maybe the next day I'll forget about it," said Igor Soukmanov of Unistar Radio in Belarus. "But today for two hours it was good entertainment. ... As a Hollywood movie, it's a very nice picture."
Critics got their first look at "The Da Vinci Code" a day before its world premiere at Cannes on Wednesday, when it also debuts at theaters in France and some other countries. The film opens worldwide over the following two days, including the United States on Friday. A gala in Beijing will show the movie an hour before its "official worldwide premier" in Cannes.
In London, the apparently unstoppable train of publicity took the form of an actual train here as the movie's stars and notables headed for a trip to the Cannes film festival for tonight's opening, CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reports.
Directed by Ron Howard, the movie stars Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou as strangers hurled together on a frantic quest for the Holy Grail after a series of murders is committed.
The filmmakers add some twists and variations here and there, but the general thrust of the novel remains intact, including its theory that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene were married and had a child. Variety calls is a "subversively revisionist view of Jesus Christ's life."
The movie has prompted denouncements from many Christians.
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