INFERNO (3 out of 10) Directed by Ron Howard, Written by David Koepp; Starring Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Omar Sy, Ben Foster and Ana Ularu; Running time 121 minutes, Rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence, disturbing images, some language, thematic elements and brief sensuality In wide release October 28, 2016.
The third movie in a trilogy is generally the worst – “X-Men”, “Terminator” and “The Matrix” all follow along with that rule of thumb. While the Robert Langdon movies haven’t always been the greatest, one would think that director Ron Howard would have picked up how to do them correctly by now and that “Inferno” would at least be as decent as the first two. Well, that hope has been dashed as it is the worst of the bunch mainly because it is mind-numbingly boring.
“Inferno” opens with Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) awakening in a hospital in Florence with a bullet wound to the head and absolutely no idea how he got there or suffered his injuries. He and Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), the kindly ER doctor taking care of him are immediately attacked by an assassin (Ana Ularu) and barely escape with their lives back to Brooks’ apartment. There, Langdon realizes he was on a desperate chase to find a biological weapon created by billionaire madman Bertrand Zobrist (Ben Foster) that will kill half the world’s population. Guided only by cryptic clues left in Dante’s Inferno and a map of hell, the two of them must race through Florence to stop his plans before they are stopped by a shadowy corporation who is aiding Zobrist or a corrupt member of the World Health Organization looking to find the disease first and sell it to the highest bidder.
Based on the fourth and weakest book by Dan Brown, “Inferno” should be an exciting and fun action film full of tricks and puzzles for everyone to figure out, but it falls flat on almost every level. Tom Hanks looks like he would rather be anywhere than here and also wondering why his agent ever signed him to a three-movie (or more) contract. Seriously, the most surprised he seems is that the first two films made enough money for his being roped into doing this one.
And speaking of the puzzles, well, there really aren’t any. At least in “Da Vinci” and “Angels”, the clues were left in famous paintings or artwork, so it was interesting to see how Brown would tie these in to the main story. I mean, these exist in real life, and I’m sure that countless people have visited them and tried to find the clues that Langdon discovered in the movies. “Inferno” is just lazy in that all the clues were actually recently hand written into the pictures or masks, so there is no sense of mystery for anyone trying to play along and see where the story will go. Also, why the hell did our bad guy leave this trail of breadcrumbs to begin with? Oh yeah, conveniently to let his followers find where the disease is hidden to, well to do what exactly? And that is just one of many plot holes that no one even tries to hide or explain. Throw in a plot twist that is evident from the first five minutes of the movie, and you’re left with nearly two hours that accomplish nothing other than making the audience yawn and constantly look at their watches waiting for it to be over.
Hardcore Dan Brown fans will at least be happy to see that the movie (mostly) follows the book, but with a source material so weak, it would be surprising that there were many who stuck through and were excited for the movie. It’s long, boring and includes too much lazy storytelling to make it worth even a matinee. If Dante were alive today, he would definitely agree that the filmmakers should immediately be sent to the first level of hell to face penance for their sins.
3 out of 10