For a film being marketed with the slogan, "This summer, discover the truth," The Da Vinci Code is surprisingly uncontroversial.

In the original book, our protagonists had been thrust in the midst of a Dark Age style witch-hunt, where powerful forces had been mobilized against them on a global scale. However in the movie adaptation, we lose that overriding sense of danger and lurking menace that had been the main driving thrust in the book.

Furthermore several aspects that made the book what it is are left out of the film or only given cursory treatment. An example of this was the hero's championing of the 'sacred feminine' (read Goddess worship) as compared with the exclusively male concept of God. This was hinted at in the film, but never developed to the extent it was in the book.

On the acting front the two main characters, code-cracking Harvard Professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) and French cryptologist Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tataou) were lacklustre. They were shown as llifeless and too one-dimensional to empathize with.

Ian McKellan in the supporting cast does a good job in keeping the story interesting, playing the eccentric Englishman and unassuming mastermind Sir Leigh Teabing. Alfred Molina does quite well as 'villain-priest' Bishop Arigarossa as does Paul Bettany who plays the fanatical assassin Silas. However these characters are underused.

The film has an inspiring soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, whose brilliance is able to move audiences in spite of the shortcomings of the actual film. The visual effects for the historical flashbacks were also stylishly done.

But overall, the film is only slightly better than mediocre. If it wan't based on such a brilliant book, it would have flopped. With the hype surrounding it, the movie will inevitably draw a big audience. But please listen to me when I say this. If you haven't read the book, don't watch the film! Otherwise you'll just end up finding out how the story ends but not experiencing the full power of the plot. Then the book will hold no interest to you anymore. So do yourself a favour - get off your lazy arse and read the damn book - and then watch the movie.