Dan Brown - 'The Da Vinci Code' and 'Angels And Demons' (merged)

[spirit]

Re: Dan Brown - 'The Da Vinci Code' & 'Angels And Demons'

Here is a God who impregnated somebody else's virgin wife — which struck me as rape — and then loaded down his only son with all the sins of the world, and allowed him to be tortured to death.

I’m not a Christian as such, but I’d like to share my opinion on this. I don’t believe that Jesus was the only child of God. We’re all the children of God, and I don’t believe any parent would really do that, unless you really want to boggle down into the theory of Karma. Jesus dies for a cause that he believed in, and I don’t reckon we was really force. He though that was what God expected of him, and so he did what he though he had to do.

It also struck me as patent nonsense that this God allowed even little babies to be permanently damned to fry in hell forever unless they'd been baptized.

Ah, this just made me laugh. I don’t believe in hell.

 

[Corvis]

Re: Ian McKellen in "Da Vinci Code"

I just saw a trailer for The Da Vinci Code when I saw Star Wars Episode III. It looks like it's going to be awesome. Did anyone know that it's being directed by Ron Howard?

 

[e.Blackstar]

Re: Ian McKellen in "Da Vinci Code"

It's ironic that the Da Vinci Code will be released the same date as Star Wars.

 

[Barliman Butterbur]

Re: Ian McKellen in "Da Vinci Code"

I just saw a trailer for The Da Vinci Code... Did anyone know that it's being directed by Ron Howard?

If that's true, it'll be good — Ron Howard don't make junk! And here's an intriguing review of the book from the New York Times: http://www.danbrown.com/novels/davinci_code/nytimes.html

Barley

 

[Ithrynluin]

Re: Dan Brown - 'The Da Vinci Code' & 'Angels And Demons'

I read The Da Vinci Code and enjoyed it immensely. I haven't read a good thriller in years. It was interesting and provocative, which prompted me to check out the New Testament of the Bible and also De-Coding Da Vinci: The Facts Behind the Fiction of The Da Vinci Code by Amy Welborn which was so so.

I look forward to reading Angels and Demons sometime in the future.

 

[e.Blackstar]

The Da Vinci Code

Noting some people's opinions in this thread, I'd like to ask everyone.

Who has read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, and what did you think of it?

 

[Niirewen]

Re: The Da Vinci Code

I read it and loved it. It was a few years ago though, so I don't remember all the specifics. I thought it was very interesting and I could hardly put it down. I've also ready Angels and Demons and Digital Fortress by Dan Brown, both of which I enjoyed. I don't usually like the suspense-type novels, but I really like his books.

 

[Wolfshead]

Noting some people's opinions in this thread, I'd like to ask everyone.

Who has read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, and what did you think of it?

I read it and thought it was great. It's clearly badly written, and most of the material is utter fabrication, but I found it a thrilling page-turner. Went through it in no time.

 

[Barliman Butterbur]

I read it and thought it was great. It's clearly badly written, and most of the material is utter fabrication, but I found it a thrilling page-turner. Went through it in no time.

Speaking of reading and re-reading, I just finished skimming this thread from its beginning. It has some of the luster left over from the days when politics and religion were legitimate topics of discussion on this board, and some really fine minds put up some really fine posts. Alas for the loss of those days.

Barley

 

[Wolfshead]

Speaking of reading and re-reading, I just finished skimming this thread from its beginning. It has some of the luster left over from the days when politics and religion were legitimate topics of discussion on this board, and some really fine minds put up some really fine posts. Alas for the loss of those days.

Not beating the dead donkey are you, Barley? I believe politics and religion were banned when I posted the thread and we had to be really careful about what we said. I still maintain it's ridiculous

Anyway, I quite liked looking back and seeing how my opinions have changed since the start of the thread. Since I posted the thread I've learned a lot about the subject matter and am not so intrigued by it, basically because it's rubbish

 

[Ithrynluin]

I have just finished Angels and Demons and must say it is an astonishing read. I enjoyed The Da Vinci Code, which was a captivating read in its own right, but Robert Langdon's first adventure is, in my opinion, many times more so. I observed a few similarities between the two works, mainly character-wise, so I was naturally suspicious of every single person involved in A&D. Alas, that did not help me in unmasking the culprit!

 

[Barliman Butterbur]

I assume other people have read these books? I read The Da Vinci Code a while back, and Angels And Demons last week. What do people think of them?

I must say I'm surprised that this thread has been allowed here — so far. Does anyone think that the subject cannot lead to a discussion of religion???

Anyway — I've not read the book, nor do I plan to (most of you know my position on various religious dogma only too well), but I intend to see the movie. I remember a big TTF flap some time back about Opus Dei, with Joxy coming to its defense. (The movie Van Helsing with Hugh Jackman may also have raised some Catholic hackles by insinuating that there was an underground Catholic organization of 007 types geared to wiping out demons and monsters.)

But back to TDVC — I want to see it because (a) it seems to have a good plot, (b) it's directed by Ron Howard and (c) the cast includes Tom Hanks, Ian McKellen and Paul Bettany, fine actors all, all three of whom were interviewed by Jay Leno on The Tonight Show on successive nights in the last week or two. The movie clips they showed were quite intriguing.

Barley

 

[Wolfshead]

Does anyone think that the subject cannot lead to a discussion of religion???

As I think I might have said before, I don't think it necessarily has to. If you stay away from theology then it's a bonafide discussion about history. Brown never questions the existence of God, it's all about the history of the Church, and a discussion about the history of the church doesn't have to be about religon as such.

As for the film, I've heard it's quite **** and only kept from being abysmal by McKellen and Bettany. However, I'm off to see it this evening, so I'll wait to pass my own judgement. It'll make loads of money anyway cos the franchise is so large.

 

[Barliman Butterbur]

...I'm off to see it this evening, so I'll wait to pass my own judgement. It'll make loads of money anyway cos the franchise is so large.

I almost saw it yesterday, but thought better of fighting the crowds. So I'll wait until the initial furor dies down. (Maybe I'll wait until it comes to cable TV ) It is fascinating to me to see how various Christian factions (generally the more fundamentalist/orthodox types) are jockeying to make a silk purse out of this (according to the critics) sow's ear, and to make lemonade out of this lemon. It's almost the flip side of what happened when Mel's Jesus movie came out.

I observe what is for me the spectacle of believers of ensconsed and "legitimized" dogma (by virtue of its ancientry) attacking another (more recent and therefore illegitimate) dogma which dares to negate their own...

Who was it that said "Can't we all just get along?"

Barley

 

[Wolfshead]

So, did anyone else think the film was a bit rubbish?

 

[Starbrow]

Yes, I was disappointed. With Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, and Ian McKellan I expected it to be much better.

Of course, I didn't think the book was as great as so many claimed.