10 Bad Movies Oscar-Winning Directors Went On To Make

Nobody, absolutely nobody, was prepared for how bad The Da Vinci Code would turn out to be.

After all, who'd have predicted that an adaptation of one of the most popular novels of the modern age, starring the prolific Tom Hanks and directed by the esteemed Ron Howard, would be anything less than a slam-dunk?

It's hard to believe, and again, just like Rock The Kasbah, The Da Vinci Code is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to the talent involved, which makes its atrocity all the more unforgiving.

The movie's biggest issue is that it tries to be both a flashy blockbuster and a sophisticated Sudoku puzzle all at the same time. It doesn't know whether it wants to thrill you or challenge you, and it fails to do either.

The Da Vinci Code should've been a lighter, Indy-esque adventure with simplified puzzles and interesting, fleshed out characters, but as it stands, watching it feels like solving a boring crossword puzzle on the hardest difficulty.

Howard is more commonly renowned for his challenging dramatic pictures (he won an Oscar for A Beautiful Mind) than his glossier big-budget productions, and he wisely stuck to the former in-between his three Dan Brown adaptations.

And that was a smart move, because those in-between films reminded us why he's been considered one of the best directors in the business for a long, long time.