Film

The Da Vinci Code

Name: The Da Vinci Code
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Released: 2006
Cast: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, Paul Bettany

Tom Hanks in tweed and a turtleneck plays Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, racing through Paris and London decoding Da Vinci paintings, Fibonacci sequences and church architecture to outrun a monk-assassin and unravel a conspiracy about the bloodline of Christ. It's brisk, glossy, plot-obsessed pulp — the pleasure is puzzle-solving, not character, and it moves fast enough that you rarely notice how silly it is.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy puzzle-box thrillers where the pleasure is following clues through famous artworks and historical byways, with a brisk, chase-driven momentum and a willingness to let the conspiracy be entertaining rather than strictly credible.

Skip it if you want a grounded, character-led drama or find the idea of history-as-puzzle tiresome; the film leans on exposition and talky explanation scenes, and it runs close to two and a half hours.

What it asks of you: It settles in for almost two and a half hours of rapid-fire clue-chasing, with long stretches of dialogue explaining the hidden history, so it needs patience for talk as much as attention for the chase.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

National Treasure2004

The same puzzle-box DNA — historical clues, hidden codes, a race against rival treasure hunters — but with Nicolas Cage's earnest goofiness instead of Langdon's academic solemnity. Pure comfort-food conspiracy fun.

But The stakes are lower and the history is even more fanciful; if you wanted gravitas, this trades it for theme-park energy.

Angels & Demons2009

Langdon and Hanks return for another Vatican-adjacent scramble, this time with the Illuminati and a ticking-clock murder spree through Rome. More action, tighter pacing, same brainy-thriller formula.

But It's diminishing returns — the novelty of the first film's premise is gone, and the mystery feels more mechanical.

Sherlock Holmes2009

Guy Ritchie's Holmes swaps religious conspiracy for Victorian occult theatrics, but the pleasure is identical: a brilliant mind decoding clues everyone else missed, at speed, with charisma to spare.

But It's scrappier and more physical — less library, more brawling — which some will love and others will find jarring.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Da Vinci Code

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Foul Play1978

Same skeleton — secret Catholic conspiracy, decoded clues, a chase to stop an assassination — but played entirely for comedy, proving this plot has always been one tonal shift from ridiculous.

Goldie Hawn stumbles into a plot to assassinate the Pope, chasing cryptic clues through San Francisco with Chevy Chase, decades before Langdon made this exact genre respectable again.

But It's a full-blown farce — pratfalls, slapstick, dated jokes — nothing about it takes the conspiracy seriously for a second.

The Name of the Rose1986

Sean Connery as a monk-detective solving murders inside a medieval monastery riddled with forbidden books and heretical secrets. Same DNA of scholarship-as-suspense, but with real medieval dread.

But It's slower, grimier and more philosophical — closer to a genuine period piece than a slick thriller.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade1989

A relic hunt, a secret society, ancient riddles and a race against Nazis for a biblical artifact — basically Da Vinci Code's swashbuckling grandfather, with more charm and better stunts.

But It's pure adventure spectacle rather than mystery-solving; the puzzles exist to set up action, not the reverse.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade poster

The Ninth Gate1999

Johnny Depp chases a satanic rare book through Europe's rich-and-shadowy underworld, decoding engravings that may summon the devil. Same bibliophile-conspiracy engine, colder and stranger.

But Polanski's pacing is deliberately languid and the ending is deliberately ambiguous — no tidy revelation here.

Tomb Raider2018

Alicia Vikander's Lara Croft solves ancient puzzles and outruns armed conspirators hunting a mythic artifact. Less theology, more physical peril, but the same decode-and-run structure.

But It leans hard into action-adventure over cerebral mystery — don't expect much intellectual heavy lifting.

The Lost City2022

Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum on a jungle treasure hunt full of ancient clues and double-crosses, played almost entirely for laughs. A great palate-cleanser if you want the formula without the self-seriousness.

But It's a rom-com adventure first — if you want tension and stakes, this deliberately undercuts both for comedy.

The Bourne Identity2002

Swap religious conspiracy for intelligence-agency conspiracy: a man piecing together fragments of a hidden truth while shadowy institutions try to stop him, moving city to city across Europe.

But It's grittier and more paranoid, with none of the art-history flourishes — a colder, harder thriller.

The Librarian: Quest for the Spear2004

Take the reluctant-scholar-turned-relic-hunter formula and strip out every ounce of prestige: same engine, run on a fraction of the money and none of the pretension.

A mild-mannered scholar is recruited to protect the world's magical antiquities and immediately goes globe-trotting after an ancient relic guarded by secret societies — TNT's cheerfully cheesy answer to Indiana Jones and Langdon both.

But It's a made-for-TV movie with a TV-movie budget and TV-movie earnestness — camp, not craft.