The Da Vinci Code

I finally managed to watch this film last night, having been put off by reports that it was fairly crap.
I have to say it wasn't too bad. The film seemed to hold up reasonably well, didn't have any obvious plot holes and seemed to follow the book reasonably well.
There were some moments in the film where a bit more explanation or evidence would have been useful but apart from that it was fine.
I suspect the main reason people didn't like it was because the basis behind the story and the big reveal goes against so much that has been indoctrinated over the centuries that people don't easily accept it. Not that I'm saying that the plot is basically true, but there are elements about it that are worthy of consideration.
Dan Brown's novel had a large number of cunning plot twists and puzzle solving and for that reason it was entertaining. Unfortunately for him, as a dramatic writer he seemed a bit clumsy and the end of chapter cliff-hangers often came across as contrived.
The basis behind the book however, is one documented elsewhere (most famously in The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail), that suggests through reviewing historical contexts and references within the Bible. that Jesus was married to Mary Magdelen and had at least one child who escaped with her to either Egypt or Southern France where his blood line continued.
The thing that attracted me to The Holy Blood however was not the search for his descendents, but the evidence gathered about the start of the Christian church, much of which is historically documented or beyond reasonable doubt, but is not well publicised and only becomes important when pieced together to provide a fairly damning history of the way the founders of the established Christian church shaped the teachings and history of Jesus to suit their own ends. Many of you may well have heard elements about this before but the merit of these books (in my view) is that they collect this information and put it in the public domain.