Becky and I went to see The DaVinci Code this afternoon with some friends of ours. I had "read" the book a few years ago (in quotes as I don’t have time to read and instead listen to books from Audible.com during my commute) and thought it was decent enough work of fiction. Unfortunately, many have come to believe that the assertions of its author, Dan Brown, are true and based in fact. My thinking is that the problem lies in the fact that most people (myself included to a certain extent) don’t have a sufficient understanding of biblical history to know that his implied "facts" lack support, are distortions of known truths, or are outright fabrications. By contrast, National Treasure was in many respects a knock-off of The DaVinci Code but was obviously false due primarily to it’s over-the-top plotline but also the simple fact that we have a better knowledge of U.S. history than biblical history (generally speaking).

I’m not here to debate the book, but mainly wanted to comment on the movie. It was interesting enough and was true to the book (as I remember it, at least). Unfortunately, it lacked suspense (probably due to knowing what was going to happen next, of course), didn’t have chemistry between the characters (played by Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou), and seemed to drag. I did quite enjoy Ian McKellen who is quite enjoyable to watch on screen.

It was a better book in my opinion.

Now, if you want to familiarize yourself with the issues and get some facts, here’s some links to get you started: Priory of Sion, Opus Dei, Critisims of The DaVinci Code, Howstuffworks: The DaVinci Code, Stand to Reason: The DaVinci Code Cracks, Da Vinci Code Breaker.