The Da Vinci Treasure (2006) User Reviews

Ow. My EYES!

[vethraxx · 1/10 · 13 January 2010]

This is one of the seven films, that if played in the proper sequence, will end the world...oops I've said to much.

This movie is awful in all respects. Mostly, it's a prime example of why you don't film in video. The first thing I had to do was turn the color way down as everything is saturated in red. There are near white out conditions on everyone's face. Video is something you film a wildlife documentary on, not a full length action film.

The only real actor (Lance Hendrickson) has so little screen time because they can't afford to pay him. Most of their location shots or a static or panoramic view then a cut to a mundane indoor location with all the shades closed. Even when they are on the train, the blind is down the whole time. It would have been nice to get some scenery to tie them to a location while they travel.

The whole thing just smacks of cheap. Even the gun flashes are faked. Watch while the linguist shoots the AK from inside the car, it does not eject spent shells. She just giggles the gun.

If you want a cheap movie that puts a smile on your face every time, and was shot on film, I recommend Manos Hands of Fate.

One Treasure That Needs Buried

[Theo Robertson · 2/10 · 12 August 2010]

This takes cheek to a new level . From the outset characters mention " The Da Vinci Codex " which leads to the conclusion that THE DA VINCI CODEX was going to be the original title of the movie but Asylum got cold feet at the last minute , especially when it became clear Dan Brown was no stranger to plagiarism court cases even if he was the defendant . Titles of films aren't copyrighted but this film does sail close to the wind . Unfortunately as the film continues you realise the title is the least of the problems

From the outset it's clear there is zero reality involved . The producers could claim it's escapist fantasy not a documentary but even so there still has to be credibility for a film to work . For example the opening sequence takes place at a mansion in London where a couple of bodyguards patrol the gardens armed with AK47s . The gun laws are very strict in Britain with possession of an assault rifle enough to get you a life sentence , it's not something you can posses even if you have a firearms license . Sure enough many shots are fired in the opening sequence but for some strange reason the police never arrive

The film is full of these gaps in credibility. There's a car chase involving hero and heroine Michael Archer and Gulia Pedina where they're pursued by the villains who continually fire shots at the duo . The bad guys eventually catch up with the goodies in a culdesac and politely ask for the Turin Shroud in Michael's possession then drive off . Let's see they were trying to kill Michael and Gulia seconds earlier and when they catch up with them they suddenly decide not to kill them ? Can anyone spot an inconsistency here ? The scene also sees Michael refers to the villains killing Gulia's relative who is a cardinal .Unless I missed something there's no way Michael would know this since he and Gulia were in a different location when it happened . I suppose theaudience aren't supposed to think about these plot holes instead they're attention is concentrated on Gulia's cleavage ? I'm sorry but no woman has a good enough cleavage to hide such clumsy and careless scripting

If the screenplay by Paul Bales and Carlos De Los Rios is bad then the directing is worse . Much worse . Director Peter Mervis is also the editor on the film and the editing is possibly the most noticeable thing about THE DA VINCI TREASURE and that's not a compliment . Remember in these old classic Hollywood movies a newspaper man takes a photo with a big camera with a light bulb ? There's a flash of light and a whooshing sound . We see something similar continually happen throughout the film but there's absolutely no consistency to it . It happens during action scenes then it doesn't happen . It happens when characters are introduced then doesn't happen when other characters aren't introduced . We have no idea why the director does it and it's literally painful to watch

Don't be fooled by the presence of Lance Henriksen either because despite being the main villain he's only in the film for a total of three scenes . Most of the screen time is composed of C Thomas Howell and Nicole Sherwin trying to convince us they're a couple of academic anthropologists and failing . Howell looks exactly like he did in WAR OF THE WORLDS 2 THE NEXT WAVE where he lived in a shanty town after surving an alien invasion that has destroyed civilization . Honestly he looks like some homeless heroin addict than an intellectual . As I said earlier Ms Sherwin has an impressive cleavage but if cleavage is the best thing about a movie then it's just got to be a very poor movie

Awful Movie

[romeos115-1 · 1/10 · 28 August 2006]

This film was a total waste of time. I was watching it with my wife and soon after it started we realized the film would be terrible. To start off the special effects were horrible. The screen would flash briefly when something important apparently happened. Do the movie makers actually think we needed help to know what's going on?. The effect was very cheap. The overall plot was stupid and pointless. The acting was horrible. Nothing in this movie flowed or made any sense. I really don't mind a bad movie because even a bad movie can be entertaining, but I can't stand a bad movie along with bad acting. At the end of the movie we decided to see the outtakes to try to get something positive from this putrid movie. Outtakes are usually funny, but we were wrong again. They were full of bad language. Stay away!!!

Bottom line - don't bother.

[bubbarian · 1/10 · 15 July 2006]

I rented this out of curiosity when I saw it on the shelf the same day "The Da Vinci Code" came out. This movie is an insult to the viewer and everyone involved. It was slapped together so fast that I could find no reference to it anywhere on the internet for several days after I watched it. I just looked it up today to see if anyone had claimed it yet and give it my vote which might be too high now that I think about it. Somebody must have made some money on it somehow. There is no other excuse or motive for such trash. The lack of quality of the production reminds me of some cheap porn. Do you suppose Henrikson and Howell owed somebody a debt they couldn't refuse? I see 8 people actually gave this a 10 rating. Could that many crew members have had the gall to claim this as their best work? Bottom line - don't bother.

More rip-off crap from The Asylum, as bad as anything they have made.

[poolandrews · 1/10 · 11 December 2010]

The Da Vinci Treasure starts in London in England where an American anthropologist named Michael Archer (C. Thomas Howell) & his assistant Griffe (Antonio Jaramillo) has broken into a stately house, there to steal rare handwritten papers by Leonardo Da Vinci five hundred odd years ago that are supposed to reveal the location of a stash of stolen gold & treasure. They find what they are after but Griffe betrays Archer & tries to take the papers for himself, in the ensuing fight Griffe is stabbed & dies. Running from the scene Archer is cornered by evil archaeologist Dr. John Coven (Lance Henriksen) who takes the papers for himself. Archer remains committed to working out the clues Da Vinci left behind & find the location of the long lost treasure & has sexy sidekick Giulia Pedina (Nicole Sherwin) to help, from Italy to obtain the Turin Shroud to back to London to get some optical glasses to Afghanistan where the treasure hunt finally ends...

Edited, co-written & directed by Peter Mervis I hated The Da Vinci Treasure, take it from me it's total crap from start to finish & all those involved should be embarrassed & hang their heads in shame for producing such an awful film of no merit or value whatsoever. I also hate the Th Asylum, the talentless money grabbing hack company that churn out endless rip-offs of big budget Hollywoof films such as Universal Soldiers (2007), Sunday School Musical (2008), 100 Million BC (2008), The Day the Earth Stopped (2008), Death Racers (2008), Paranormal Entity (2009), Haunting of Winchester House (2009) & The Terminators (2009) in just a few of their output from the past couple of years & the one major thing in common between all these films is that they are all crap. The Asylum specialise in making the worst, low budget film you can imagine & then riding on the success of a big Hollywood blockbuster to cheat people into seeing it by mistake. That's The Asylum's entire business plan, I hate them for making so many awful films & the fact that I'm dumb enough to keep watching the things annoys me even more. When will I ever learn? There are so many things wrong with The Da Vinci Treasure it's hard to know where to begin, more of a low rent rip-off of National Treasure (2004) with a lethargic & pointless trek across the world from London to Turin (although all shot in California) to solve clues (the Mona Lisa is based on a Pythagoras triangle you know) left by Leonardo Da Vinci in order to find some treasure which they randomly blow up at the end (just what does happen at the end? Archer presses something with a stick & then boom!) but manage to survive yet the blast being strong enough to leave a huge crater in the ground because they hide under what looks like a blanket. The film switches from one country to another very abruptly, it seems like Archer can travel thousands of miles in mere seconds, or so The Da Vinci Treasure & it's sloppy narrative would suggest. At 90 odd minutes it's slow, boring & feels more like two days (it took me three attempts over three days to watch it all). The character's are awful, there's no background or motivation for anything anyone does, the bad guy is given no reason to be the bad guy & suddenly turns up out of nowhere at the end. The history is awful, the geography is terrible, the plot is boring & central quest for the treasure is underwhelming. Avoid at all costs.

As well as conceptually The Da Vinci Treasure also continues the trend of films from The Asylum to be technically incompetent. The worst car chase in cinematic history is supposedly set on the streets of London although it was obviously filmed in California, the makers flipped the screen so the cars drove on the 'correct' side but that also means all the road signs are in reverse. Incompetent. While making a daring escape through Turin in Italy all the signs & shops fronts are in English, again because it was shot in California. Awful. The scenes set in Afghanistan at the end are ridiculous, the one guy has an American car (a sure fire way to get yourself shot or blown up) & Giulia wears a low cut top & jeans. They use GPS tracking to locate the treasure & the entrance to the tomb is buried under a thin layer of sand despite being untouched & lost for centuries! The whole production is embarrassingly cheap, from comedy Da Vinci glasses to the ancient shroud that looks like a blanket to some truly awful CGI computer effects that are cringe worthy at best.

With a supposed budget of about $850,000 the pitifully low budget probably had something to do with how bad The Da Vinci Treasure turned out but it feels like no-one made any effort & quite simply The Asylum doesn't care about the films it puts out. All The Asylum cares about is the bottom line profit it can make by conning people into watching turds like this. The acting is awful, C. Thomas Howell is slumming it while Lance Henriksen gets about five minutes of random screen time trying to look & sound evil for no apparent reason.

The Da Vinci Treasure is a poor mans adventure film knock-off that is truly painful to sit through, from rotten production values & special effects to a disregard for history & geography as well as a boring script that probably took half a day to write. Avoid at all costs.

"What's he pointing at"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 1/10 · 19 June 2021]

One understands that the editor/director Peter Mervis wanted to make an exciting film but unfortunately all that the manic editing and random freeze frames do is exasperate the viewer, if not give them an epileptic fit. The car and bus chase (supposedly set in London but obviously not) had so many cuts I felt nausea rather than exhilaration. It took me fifteen minutes before I understood what was going on, and even then I was not sure. Basically it is a search for some Medici treasure and a tedious quest it turned out to be. It was not helped by mostly poor acting and a nonsensical plot. The characters had no depth. Lance Henriksen, with the obvious villainous name Dr Coven, was good as always but was hardly in it. The only thing that kept me watching until the end was a vain hope the movie might improve. And Nicole Sherwin's cleavage.

Mockbuster by The Asylum - That says it all

[klingon-attack · 5/10 · 1 December 2020]

I tend to judge a movie by what it claims to be. You don't expect Doctor Zhivago to be a porn movie, you don't expect the SpongeBob movie to win an Oscar and that's exactly why you don't expect "The Da Vinci Treasure" to play in the same league as a Hollywood production.

Make no mistake, this is not what I would conventionally call a "good movie" and I won't even start the old "so bad it's whatever" stereotype here. It's a mockbuster by The Asylum and anyone who has ever watched any of their movies knows what to expect already during the opening credits.

I found this mildly entertaining, obviously trying to cash in on the success of "The Da Vinci Code" (although towards the end I had a slight reminiscence of Indiana Jones movies). So what the gunfire was CGI, so what the story was totally ludicrous (I admit I did not try to follow the very, very far-fetched clues). Da Vinci and Afghanistan? WTF?

I have watched worse movies, including some who took themselves more seriously than this one. But perhaps this is just my bad taste.

Awful and a waste of time

[Thingstodu · 1/10 · 27 August 2006]

My comments are straight forward; I highly recommend no one watch this movie. If you want to waste your time you'd be better off putting a bullet in your head than watch this movie. I've never seen such a stupid, very badly acted and the worst script writing in my entire life.

I'd rather watch puke drip down a wall than watch this movie ever again and if you intend to watch this movie then bad your head against a wall and ask yourself if you have any taste with anything in your whole entire life. I really wish I knew the score of this movie before watching it and I wish I saw the comments but now that I know about IMDb I promise that I'll always look up the score. This movie can't even have a rating of 2, I give it a minus one thousand and thats the bottom line.

Terrible Ripoff

[rettigcd · 1/10 · 11 September 2006]

This is a terrible rip off of The Davinci Code. The packaging is intended to trick you into thinking you're picking up the original. Then you get home and find that you've been had.

The scene cuts are so terribly distracting that you feel like a couple of 12 year kids edited this movie in their basement. I could only stand to watch about 10 minutes of it before I felt my self respect draining away.

Don't waste 10 seconds of you time on this movie.

It should be illegal to produce movies that are rip offs of (semi)good movies and then package them in deceptive cases. I've told my local movie rental to pull it from their shelves or face lots of dissatisfied customers.

Truly Awful

[fhelfrich · 1/10 · 18 September 2006]

It is impossible to overstate just how bad this film is. Bad acting, scripting, location sets, horribly transparent cost-cutting (the Ford Econoline van with obviously U.S. plates in "Italy" was about the last straw, made worse by the pedestrian attempt to electronically blot out the plate after the van comes to a stop). The casting was equally poor, with the "Italian " leading lady who spoke Italian poorly and English with a British accent, along with her "Italian" Cardinal uncle who spoke near perfect American English). I don't want to rant here, but just about everything in the film was bad. The story line was vague inasmuch as the "clues" were never satisfactorily linked (this may be partly the fault of the poor sound quality, which made softly spoken dialogue difficult to understand). I feel more stupid for having watched this movie.

Not for the Hollywood crowd, great for fans of international action

[lostinlodos · 8/10 · 9 March 2007]

If you're an American or British fan used to films from those countries, films of this style will not suit you. This is typical of the French dark-dramatic action films. Great story, decent acting. Gripping suspense all the way through. Contrary to what was noted in the other review, quite a bit of filming was done in Italy. Yet another insight to the mind of DiVinci. The story keeps you on the edge. Some intriguing plot twists are worth the price of rental or a purchase. The acting does not stack up to the over-paid over-priced Hollywood fare, but it's not supposed to. If you liked Banlieue 13 (District 13 in US), Le Baiser du dragon, (Kiss of dragon), or Pacte des loups (brotherhood of wolf); this is right up your alley.

Why?

[motivation2001 · 1/10 · 3 November 2006]

I have three words for you C. Thomas Howell. Made for TV? Straight to DVD? both are too good for this film. I knew when I picked up this DVD at my local Blockbuster I was in for a treat.....I hadn't seen a good comedy in a while, so I rented it and took it home. Bottom Line I want to meet the pitch person that sold this to the studio!! This person has to be the best pitch person in all of Hollywood!!! #1 Who would even attempt to make a movie even loosely based on this story #2 Why? This movie lacks everything. Acting 0 Action 0 Story Line 0. Hey studio what's with all of the distracting "Freeze Frames" and ridiculous cartoon like sound effects? Oh thats right compensating for a very poorly made movie. You would have been better off donating the studios money to a local charity! I have seen Youtube Videos that blow this away!! Here is my advice, if you get a kick and a comedic rush from really really stupid movies, rent it!! If you take your movie indulgences more seriously wait for the Davinci Code to come out on DVD.

Da Vinci Treasure was so bad it should be buried.

[andyofne · 1/10 · 2 August 2006]

I knew from the moment I saw the word Asylum that the Da Vinci Treasure was going to be a crap fest and so on that account I was not disappointed.

It would be unethical of me to say that I actually watched the entire film; so, having said that, please take my criticism with a grain of rock salt.

This movie was so bad it put me to sleep twice. I woke up the first time in Chapter 3 on the DVD and reversed back to Chapter 1 where I nodded off. The second time I awakened as the credits were rolling and I did not bother going back to watch the closing chapter.

I think the thing that annoyed me the most about this film was the special effect sound they would play when they wanted to show you something seemingly significant. The only benefit this had was that it would force me to open my eyes and focus on the scene for another 8 to 12 seconds.

Far from being a rip off of the this year's similarly titled big screen release, The Da Vinci Code (based on Dan Brown's novel), the Da Vinci Treasure seemed to flow more like 2004's National Treasure.

Despite the similarities to National Treasure this movie was filled with poorly delivered lines, cheesy 'special effects' and crappy sets. The whole thing had a very high school film class look and feel to it.

I feel dumber for having actually paid to watch this film.

most terrible movie

[davidvandiepen · 1/10 · 9 March 2007]

this is by far the most terrible movie i have seen, do yourself a favor and don't watch it!

it is a kind of combination of national treasure and the DA vinci code, but the editing is awful, the story is totally implausible and the plot can not be followed..

a lot of flashed in between, used to make it exciting?? its horrible to watch.. a lot of attention to action scenes in between while they do not add anything to the movie.. like 15 minutes of a car-pursuit by a totally unimportant bad guy and way to less attention for the actual clues on their quest to the truth, no foundation whatsoever for the conclusions and actions during the movie..

and a lot of more reasons than the ones i already gave ends to the conclusion that you should only see it if you are that curious that you want to waste your movie minutes in order to find out why it is such a bad movie..

Da Vinchi cheese

[ruberoid-tk · 1/10 · 19 June 2006]

This I suppose the most cheap, cheesy and useless movie for last decade. Bad acting, bad production, everything in this release is too bad to be true. You know, it's even not "Too bad it's good" situation, it's "Too bad to be made". Well, after i've seen 15 minutes of this flick, my fingers just started to search the TV remote control, I felt like i am in "Idle Hands" movie. Please use this movie to show it to your enemies, it shall work. I don't suggest to send the copy of DVD to original "DaVinci Code" makers, and to the writer himself. It can be tragedy. Awful! Absolutely awful, tasteless, useless and stupid try to parody original movie

This weirded me out

[henckques · 2/10 · 28 December 2007]

Unlike a few, but like many others, we were tricked by the misleading DVD-cover. After more than 15 minutes of not seeing Tom Hanks I realized this was NOT The Da Vinci Code.

These are my other impressions divided into positive (+), neutral (±) and negative (-) remarks:

(+) I'm glad that bad movies like these exists so that you can refer to them. It's fun to talk about. ^^

(+) The movie had a few decent moments. Still not enough to compensate the negatives though.

(±) Sometimes I couldn't follow the plot. Their way of reasoning was far beyond me because they connected dots I didn't even know about. But I don't dare to say whether that's the writer's fault or my own.

(-) Annoying, distracting "freeze frames" at the beginning of the movie that didn't mean anything.

(-) Bad acting.

(-) Bad plot.

(-) Bad special effects, especially at the end of the movie.

(-) Lack of suspense.

(-) ... should I go on?

Believe me, even though these are all opinions, I think the low ratings for this movie are justified.

Dead-headed rip-off

[Leofwine_draca · 2/10 · 8 June 2018]

THE DA VINCI TREASURE is, unsurprisingly enough, The Asylum's dead-headed rip-off of THE DA VINCI CODE, made on a tiny budget which means that two or three actors tend to interact against empty sets and dark backgrounds throughout. It's a slow-moving and poorly-written little enterprise without any moment of surprise or suspense in the plotting at any point. I really can't think of any positive comments to make about it. The increasingly weary C. Thomas Howell is a complete dud as the lead; Nicole Sherwin is better but given little to do other than tag along and look pretty. Good old Lance Henriksen brings some much-needed character to his villain work but is sorely underutilised here.

Terrible, terrible movie!

[gazebo · 3/10 · 30 June 2006]

This movie is a big disappointment and a waste of film. The story was mediocre, the acting was very poor. The worse shock for me was to see how C. Thomas Howell looked! He looked horribly gaunt and very old and his voice was too raspy. I thought to myself, was this poor guy really sick or on drugs? Well, I read Howell's mini-biography and found out that he had a bad case of appendicitis and that's why he looked so gaunt. In my opinion, Howell shouldn't be working right now because he looks really awful and he ought to take time out to recover fully before going back into films. I mean, if you're gonna do an action film with not a very good plot, you ought to at least look handsome.

This film is about a bunch of treasure hunters looking for the "Da Vinci treasure". The story is preposterous. There were some interesting ideas behind Da Vinci's artwork but that was about it. All the actors were incredibly wasted doing this forgettable film.

The directing was pretty bad. All of a sudden, the film would stop, a bright flash would appear and then the film would continue on. Instead of looking cool, it became a big irritation after awhile, because it was a pretty pointless special effect. The film was lifeless and I had to force myself to continue watching. I decided to continue watching this film because TV is now in re-run hell and there was nothing else better on.

I do hope that C. Thomas Howell recovers his health and his looks. I was just incredibly shocked and sadden by how crappy he looked.

Avoid this film, please.......!

One Company's Treasure is one viewer's nightmare

[TheLittleSongbird · 1/10 · 14 October 2012]

I have made no secret of disliking the movies made by The Asylum. I watch them out of curiosity and to see if they will make anything tolerable. So far of the movies I've seen only I Am Omega and #1 Cheerleader Camp have been halfway good, everything else has ranged from bad to atrocious. The Da Vinci Treasure is not quite one of The Asylum's absolute nadirs, but it is one movie that belongs in the atrocious category. It is visually very amateurish, with some of the most choppy and irritating editing there has been in any film from recent memory and very artificial-looking special effects. The soundtrack is of the generic kind, while the sound effects are over-bearing and sometimes bizarre. The dialogue is really trite and has a hackneyed feel constantly. The characters are not likable in the slightest, the fact that they are clichéd doesn't help but the fact that they have no development at all makes things even worse than they already are. The story, almost like part-Da Vinci Code and part National Treasure and a derivative one at that, has no life, fun or excitement, instead it is lethargically paced, has no heart, love or soul, and at the end of the day has no point to it. The acting is awful, Thomas C.Howell looks ill and seems to be seriously lumbering with his character, and if you are going to have a decent actor like Lance Henriksson as the villain at least give him something to do will you. In conclusion, instead of a treasure it was a nightmare, pointless, dull, soulless and choppily edited complete with bad dialogue, an even worse story and no enthusiasm in the acting. A resounding 1/10. Bethany Cox

Porn movie w/o the good part

[hugoichristianus · 1/10 · 25 November 2010]

No bs, the screenplay for this movie (if there was any) must'v been written for a porn because it all looks that way. Except for the sex part.

To be honest, I like to watch a B action movie from time to time and laugh to the ridiculous special effects and cheesy action. But this... thing? Hell no! Stay away! Bottom line: with the plot so poorly written, special effects that insults your intelligence, acting of a retarded paralympic actors, and the overall feeling you are watching a porn but you're just deprived of the good part, this movie has a good chance to give you some kind of brain damage, or at least a mild anafilactic shock.

Da Vinci da stupid & the search for ancient treasure

[Chase_Witherspoon · 1/10 · 13 February 2024]

Not even Lance Henriksen can redeem this hastily concocted mystery about anthropologists competing to unlock a biblical code that will lead them to an ancient treasure.

Buxom beauty Sherwin looks exotic in a sleeveless singlet top but she has little acting to contribute other than calm Howell's anxiety or stoke his enthusiasm as the pair travel to Italy, following the clues, unaware that Henriksen and his maidservant/ henchwoman (Zibolis) is also en route.

Henriksen is reliable and has a couple of threatening scenes in which to dominate, but the ambitious plot in which he finds himself is a concept designed for a significantly bigger budget. Consequently this miniature movie looks little more than a quick & dirty cash-in produced with the sole purpose of catching unsuspecting punters off guard, and for that reason alone is best to avoid.