Fiery opening for controversial movie

Actors as monks outside St Matthew-in-the-City for the launch of The Da Vinci Code. Picture / Martin Sykes

(Read Russell Baillie's review by clicking here.)

The year's most hotly anticipated movie - The Da Vinci Code - premiered in Auckland last night to a cast of torch-bearing monks, fireballs and eager fans shaking off poor reviews and boycott calls.

"I loved it, 10 out of 10," proclaimed Aline Sandilands as she left the Sky City Theatre.

"It was intelligent, better than the book, and the locations were fabulous."

While most viewers agreed the movie was true to the book and worth watching, Marc Ellis was among those who were not singing its praises: "It was all right. The book's better."

Herald reviewer Russell Baillie said the movie was long and tedious.

"The experience was like having a book you've already read re-read to you by someone without a particularly interesting voice ... a bit of a bum-number."

Dan Brown's blockbuster book has sold 60 million but the plot - that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and established a bloodline, which the church covered up - has rubbed many the wrong way.

And the outcry is not limited to Christians protesting against the portrayal of Jesus Christ as a family man.

"Nothing really works. It's not suspenseful. It's not romantic. It's certainly not fun," said Stephen Schaefer of the Boston Herald, one of many reviewers to have panned the film.

Reaction at the first press screening in Cannes was largely negative, with laughter ringing out during one of the pivotal, and unfunny, scenes.

Albino-related organisations are also angry over Hollywood's portrayal of albinos; in the movie, the monk-assassin Silas is an albino with red eyes who commits a series of bloody murders.

Despite Christian condemnation - the Vatican called for a boycott - Anglican church St Matthew-in-the-city had no problems hosting a fiery launch before the premiere.

"St Matthew's doesn't want to get on a slippery slope by refusing space just because we may not totally agree with the subject," said the Rev Clay Nelson, the church's director of communications.

"I think Jesus would have found the book amusing."

The Da Vinci Code opens today. Screenings begin at 9am.

What the critics say

Mainstream audiences will take this for what it is: superb escapism, excellent summer entertainment and ambitious filmmaking.
- Roger Friedman, Fox News

Mostly colourless characters designed around idiosyncrasies and weird scholarly talents - sort of academic X-Men.
- Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter

An oppressively talky film that isn't exactly dull, but comes as close to it as one could imagine with such provocative material. Part of the quick deflation is due to a palpable lack of chemistry between Hanks and Tautou.
- Todd McCarthy, Variety

I kept thinking of the Energiser Bunny, because it kept going and going and going, and not in a good way.
- James Rocchi, San Francisco's CBS 5

Nothing really works. It's not suspenseful. It's not romantic. It's certainly not fun.
- Stephen Schaefer, Boston Herald