Blockbuster is page turner

"The Da Vinci Code" -- Christians are outraged, albinos are offended and people around the world who haven't even seen the film are angry simply, it seems, in preparation for being angry. But everyone can just take a deep breath and calm down because the "The Da Vinci Code" is finally coming to theaters, and its biggest sin has nothing to do with the supposedly blasphemous nature of the source material, Dan Brown's blockbuster page-turner. Rather, its sin is of omission. Director Ron Howard's adaptation feels cursory and rushed. Then again, maybe Howard was doomed from the start. In taking an intricate book about a centuries-old religious mystery that's sold 50 million copies, Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman -- with whom he spun gold with 2001's Oscar-winning "A Beautiful Mind" -- inevitably had to trim something. What they've jettisoned, however, is the tension. As played by longtime Howard favorite Tom Hanks and French actress Audrey Tautou, the novel's heroes Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu proceed from one puzzle to the next with such speed and ease, it's as if they're high-school kids on a scavenger hunt looking for a stop sign and a No. 2 pencil.