“Inferno”: Lush Hellish Visuals, Review

Do you guys remember when Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code was all the rage?  Yeah, apparently neither does Sony Studios. Director Ron Howard decided to (hopefully) finish out the Professor Robert Langdon trilogy with Inferno, another story centering around symbols and mysteries needing to be solved before a great calamity befalls the world.

Don’t get me wrong, I still to this day love the BOOK “Da Vinci Code”, as well as parts of the film. But Angels and Demons was such a let down, I had hoped we wouldn’t ever see another one of these films in theaters. Imagine my shock when Inferno has some of the strongest visual iconography used in the series yet. I mean it doesn’t hurt that Florence is one of the most striking cities in Italy, it’s history literally on every wall and mural in the center of the once vast City State. Also, anytime Hans Zimmer writes pieces for Florence, I’m a fan (his Hannibal score remains a favorite to this day).

Adding in the beauty and terror of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy (Inferno) about one man’s quest to regain his lost love by traveling through the 9 levels of hell with Langdon’s ‘visions’ of a possible bloody future….the film was all but set to be interesting and good.  That’s really where the enjoyment ended.  The pacing wasn’t as strong as the previous two films, the twists and turns were visible from a mile away, and the danger wasn’t ever palpable until the last 10 minutes. The last act really is the strongest part of the film, if you don’t feel at least a tiny twinge of anxiety watching it unfold, I don’t know what to tell you.

Inferno centers once again around Professor Robert Langdon, expert on symbology and unspoken history.  He is suffering from amnesia, a terrible thing for someone with a mind like him. Florence is the setting, surrounded by trappings of the Medici (woo!) and the true Enlightenment masters. We meet Dr. Sienna Brooks, resident at the ER where Langdon has been taken. Things progress quickly, albeit fuzzily, and the two are chased from the hospital by a uniformed officer who moves more like a T-1000 (played by Ana Ularu).  Without spoilers, the point of the film is preventing the 6th extinction, this time a manufactured virus meant to wipe out the human race to prevent the world from buckling under the strain of so many billions of people.

Tom Hanks is my least favorite actor, only because he’s the same guy in everything he does.  Go back and watch Joe Vs The Volcano and tell me how much he’s ‘grown as an actor’ after all this time.  I’ll wait.  But obviously the moving going public enjoys that person, as he’s still one of the biggest box office draws both domestically and internationally.

Felicity Jones is wasted in this film, I’m sorry to say.  Her scenes with the ‘big bad’ of the film (played by Ben Foster) were the only believable moments for her character, at least for me.

Irrfan Khan is the true hero, and tell me you don’t think of Assassin’s Creed II during his grand scenes towards the end of Inferno.  He’s the best part of the film, aside from the score.  Hands down.

SCORE:  6 OUT OF 10, probably wouldn’t see again in theaters

For completion sake, see the film if you liked the first two.  I would firmly put it in the middle as far as the trilogy goes, it’s better than Angels and Demons but no where near as compelling as Da Vinci Code.

Inferno opens worldwide on Friday, October 28th 2016.