The Da Vinci Code

2003 | Dan Brown

When Langdon saw the object inside the sheet of vellum, his heart sank.
‘God help us,’ Teabing said, slumping. ‘Your grandfather was a pitiless architect.’
Langdon stared in amazement. I see Saunière has no intention of making this easy.
On the table sat a second cryptex. Smaller. Made of black onyx. It had been nested within the first. Saunière’s passion for dualism. Two cryptexes. Everything in pairs. Double entendres. Male female. Black nested within white. Langdon felt the web of symbolism stretching onward. White gives birth to black.
Every man sprang from woman.
White – female.
Black – male.
Reaching over, Langdon lifted the smaller cryptex. It looked identical to the first, except half the size and black. He heard a familiar gurgle. Apparently, the vial of vinegar they had heard earlier was inside this smaller cryptex.

This is a fine blockbuster thriller, and definitely a lot better than film version. I must admit that double cryptexes is a brilliant idea. However, “Angels and demons” is still on the top of my favorites!

Several characters in “The Da Vinci Code” did act in unconvincing behavior. First Jacques Saunière seemed to have a lot of strength after was shot. He crawled across the corridor and left his puzzles on the plexiglass, on the floor, and on himself. Second, Sophie Neveu… After she ran way and hasn’t talked to her grandfather for a decade, she was willing to risk her life and her career to help a stranger, Robert Langdon, finding something she did not even know what it was!

Unlike Angels & Demons, Vittoria had all the motives why she would pursue the “Antimatter”… Because she made it and she knew exactly what would happen if that antimatter went off.

Everybody loves a conspiracy, indeed.

The bad thing about watching the film before reading The Da Vinci Code is, every time I read the name Robert Langdon, the image of Tom Hanks suddenly popped up in my mind!! Damn.

In my imaginary world, I’d pick Dennis Quaid to portray Robert Langdon, Emmanuelle Béart to play Sophie Neveu and Anthony Hopkins to play Leigh Teabing. Along with screenplay written and directed by 24’s crew!