The Da Vinci Code
Ron Howard 2005 US (1st time; big screen)
A professor in religious symbolism is drawn into a scandalous secret when his name is discovered at the scene of a murder in the Louvre.
Structurally, with its fragmented opening, complex, double-crossing plot and a hero in over his head, this vaguely resembles Marathon Man (1976), the kind of intelligent thriller not made these days. That is not to say, however, that Howard's adaptation of a bestselling novel rejuvenates the mystery genre; it is fairer to say that it is, perhaps disappointingly, though certainly expectedly, a novel translated to moving images--a well-paced, brilliantly-edited one.