Patrick Sun
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Jun 30, 1999
- Messages
- 39,660
Robert was underwritten for the film in terms of characterization, I was never hooked into his character, never got a sense that he'd exist outside the requirements of the plot, plus he seemed too decent, no shades of grey within him, just a deep-seated phobia of enclosed spaces due to his childhood trauma. Sophie's introduction into the film was a head-scratcher (how did she intercept the dispatch of Sauniere's death at the Louvre and show up in the nick of time, and had the cloak-n-daggar foresight to record a voicemail for Robert to be directed to call?) , but without her, we wouldn't have much of a film at all. Silas was too one-dimensional, and the Bishop shared the same deficiency.
Leigh was probably only interesting character in the film, but requirements of the plot rendered him all too fortuitous in having Robert and Sophie show up on his doorsteps in the middle of the night and give the audience the history lesson to shine some light of the stakes in question.
The final hour just ran out of gas, this is especially true after Leigh is apprehended, and Robert and Sophie press on to find the holy grail, and learn more of the past that was guarded by the Priory of Scion. There was no real sense of wonder and awe in the last hour to buoy such revelations.
I think a different director might have given the final act much more punch, I think someone else with a more Euro-centric sensibility could have better realized a more energized ending. I would not have minded it if Philip Noyce or Philip Kaufman were in the director's chair.
Leigh was probably only interesting character in the film, but requirements of the plot rendered him all too fortuitous in having Robert and Sophie show up on his doorsteps in the middle of the night and give the audience the history lesson to shine some light of the stakes in question.
The final hour just ran out of gas, this is especially true after Leigh is apprehended, and Robert and Sophie press on to find the holy grail, and learn more of the past that was guarded by the Priory of Scion. There was no real sense of wonder and awe in the last hour to buoy such revelations.
I think a different director might have given the final act much more punch, I think someone else with a more Euro-centric sensibility could have better realized a more energized ending. I would not have minded it if Philip Noyce or Philip Kaufman were in the director's chair.