If You're Not A Part Of The Solution...
Hm. read this article this morning from the Hollywood Reporter.

"Strictly as a movie and ignoring the current swirl of controversy no amount of studio money could ever buy, the Ron Howard-directed film features one of Tom Hanks' more remote, even wooden performances in a role that admittedly demands all the wrong sorts of things from a thriller protagonist; an only slightly more animated performance from his French co-star, Audrey Tautou; and polished Hollywood production values where camera cranes sweep viewers up to God-like points of view and famous locations and deliciously sinister interiors heighten tension where the movie threatens to turn into a historical treatise. The movie really only catches fire after an hour, when Ian McKellen hobbles on the scene as the story's Sphinx-like Sir Leigh Teabing. Here is the one actor having fun with his role and playing a character rather than a piece to a puzzle...

The plot is driven not by its characters but by solutions to puzzles, the breaking of codes, interpreting covert references in works of art and a dazzling display of historical knowledge, all of which works terrifically in the novel but puts the brakes to all screen action. Hanks' character is far too reactive and contemplative for a movie action hero, and the cliched nature of those drifting in and out of his orbit hits home with jolting simplicity."

I then realized that this movie had already been done a couple of times!

I think Tom’s bad hairdo is holding him back and he looks a little bloated, he's definitely not at his usual fighting weight. If all they needed was a wooden performance with a name, then they should have cast Harrison Ford or Richard Gere. Ouch, at least Steve Zahn made me laugh. The odds of me seeing Tom’s bad hair now: 7:1.





Shawn’s Instant Recast: Let’s be pragmatic about this: Tom is Ron’s favorite go-to actor, they’re probably buddies, and their kids have play dates. That being said, Tom wasn’t the best choice for this role. The role requires someone that’s a classic Narrator/Storyteller, someone with a voice that you want to listen to for two and a half hours. I don’t know the story, as we discovered yesterday, but he’s probably in his mid-forties to early fifties and a man established in his field if he’s speaking in other cities. Everyone I’m picturing is too English and old, or Black: Sir Anthony Hopkins (brilliant in Hearts In Atlantis, too old, too British), Morgan Freeman (Black, it didn’t work for the remake of Wild Wild West either, did it Will?), or Ewan McGregor (too young, Too English, but I loved his storytelling abilities in Big Fish.

And was Monica Belucci (Tears of The Sun) busy?!? Why wasn’t she cast as the French chick? I mean, if it’s that bad a script, at least help make us forget that fact. It worked for Matrix 2 and 3, and sadly, Tears Of The Sun. Like anyone in the Midwest is going to being able to tell the difference between an Italian accent and a French accent.

I guess the bottom line is: there's no great American actors. Go with your buddy. I would have cast Richard Gere and Monica. At least their prettiness would have blinded you to the lame script.