Tom Hanks recently trashed The Da Vinci Code movies, calling them commercial "hooey." Based on the popular best selling mystery-thriller book series by author Dan Brown, the trilogy of films follow Hanks as Robert Langdon, a professor of religious symbology who repeatedly finds himself at the center of a worldwide conspiracy. Beginning with the second book, The Da Vinci Code, Hanks returned to the Ron Howard-directed film series in the equally-derided Angels & Demons and Inferno.
Although the films were box office successes, with a franchise total gross of nearly $1.5 billion, each film received mixed to negative reviews from critics and fans alike and ticket sales diminished as the series progressed. The trilogy's most popular and financially successful film, The Da Vinci Code, currently holds a paltry 25% rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, just barely below Angels & Demons' 37% and right above the franchise low score of 23% by Inferno. A television spin-off series, The Lost Symbol, set before the film trilogy has not fared any better, with the show being canceled after one season.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Hanks opened up about his work on the much-maligned Robert Langdon films. The venerable actor explained that he views his trilogy of films as financially-driven "hooey," implying its simply empty entertainment with no other value than the fact that it made the studio money. Read what Hanks had to say about The Da Vinci Code movies below.
"Oh, God, that was a commercial enterprise. Yeah, those Robert Langdon sequels are hooey. The Da Vinci Code was hooey. I mean, Dan Brown, God bless him, says, Here is a sculpture in a place in Paris! No, it’s way over there. See how a cross is formed on a map? Well, it’s sort of a cross. Those are delightful scavenger hunts that are about as accurate to history as the James Bond movies are to espionage. But they’re as cynical as a crossword puzzle. All we were doing is promising a diversion. There’s nothing wrong with good commerce, provided it is good commerce. By the time we made the third one, we proved that it wasn’t such good commerce."
Although Hanks says that there is room in the industry for good films created for the sole purpose of financial gain, he says that the films must at least be good. The actor admits that his Robert Langdon films couldn't even reach that level of quality. Hanks also cites the controversy surrounding the film, as well as the book's, multitude of historical inaccuracies that plagued The Da Vinci Code's release, as reasons for his harsh look-back at that chapter of his career.
Due to the film's controversial subject matter regarding the Catholic Church and Jesus Christ's lineage, the film was banned in multiple countries and sparked protests around the world. Despite the debate, The Da Vinci Code went on to make a substantial profit and the studio quickly green-lit its sequel, Angels & Demons, proving yet again that money is often the deciding factor in the industry. Following the cancellation of The Lost Symbol series, the franchise's future remains undetermined.
Source: The New York Times