Growing up as I did when the big debacle concerning The Da
Vinci Code made headlines, I’ve probably got the same mental association with
Dan Brown films as the rest of the world: Convoluted mystery stories justified
by a business-casual approach to history. Of course, I’ve spent the years since
first watching Da Vinci and Angels & Demons playing a lot of Assassin’s
Creed, so fidelity to history and genuine science clearly isn’t an entertainment
factor for me… most days, at least. As such, I don’t take as much issue with
these films as the general consensus. Sure, they fall into some pretty
illogical pitfalls with alarming regularity, and main character Robert Langdon
can shift erratically from smartest man in the room to worst investigator ever,
but as a couple of potboiler mystery thrillers, they serve their purpose. Yes,
I realise how long I’ve spent lambasting Akiva Goldsman’s work, but the Dan
Brown adaptations are easily some of his most tolerable contributions. Since
Akiva has stepped away from the typewriter for this one, there’s nowhere to go
but up for this series… maybe?
