INFERNO - REVIEW


Despite the lukewarm reception of both The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, this year saw Ron Howard bring us yet another instalment based on Dan Brown's popular series of novels. Inferno continues Robert Langdon's (Tom Hanks) quest to save the world through running around museums and solving obscure historical puzzles.

We first meet Langdon as he wakes up in hospital following some kind of accident he can't remember. His vision blurred and memory fuzzy due to head trauma, he is led out of the hospital by Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) who sees an assassin heading her patient's way. Strange, apocalyptic dreams and a hidden item lead Langdon and Brooks to slowly uncover the truth behind a mystery linked to Dante's Inferno. The real challenge for Robert Langdon this time is having to try and stop a potential terrorist plot despite not knowing who to trust because of partial amnesia. This being a Ron Howard film, it is competently made: the tense hospital sequence and Langdon's Hellish nightmares are particularly effective. Tom Hanks' performance doesn't exactly stand out but even Hanks at his most restrained can still keep a movie afloat so he's reliably decent here.

Unfortunately, this is easily the weakest film in the franchise and if you weren't sold on the idea of yet another cinematic Dan Brown adaptation before, then it's unlikely Inferno will convince you otherwise. In terms of plot, this is a predictable mix of a tired old doomsday machine scenario, whatever happened in the last two films and thriller clichés. Most of the twists can be seen coming a mile away (sometimes even further) and the whole museum-hopping gimmick feels rather weak at this point, not to mention irrelevant. As does the Dante's Inferno theme, by the way, which could be replaced by any other historical work of art or deleted entirely and the story wouldn't miss it. This is a mostly dull retread which could have been made interesting had the side characters been at least fun (see Ian McKellen in The Da Vinci Code) but Felicity Jones looks frankly miserable throughout and understandably so.

While Dan Brown's novels and even the first two films are entertaining faux-historical romps, this trilogy failed to rise above average three times in a row and Inferno is frankly below par so it might be time for Ron Howard to wrap it up and move on to worthier projects.

 Arrested Development movie, anyone?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT - REVIEW

Image
Finally free from the clutches of the iconic Original Series , Picard and co. finally got their own movie to play with and delivered this much better, much darker, much less gimmicky outing. This time, we're introduced to the Borgs, a race of soulless, zombie-like drones capable of assimilating people completely. A popular race of bad guys in the series, their Hellraiser -style S&M look certainly begged for a movie! First Contact opens with Picard having a nightmare about the time he almost became a Borg forever and little by little, as the current Borg threat increases, he starts to crack up, feeling a responsibility to sort that problem out himself as he still has a slight connection to them but also wanting a kind of revenge, closure if you will, for what they did to him the first time around. The plot sees the crew of the Enterprise witness the Earth get completely assimilated by the Borgs so they go back in time before Earth made its "first contact" with al
Read more

24: SEASON 1 - REVIEW

Image
I know, I'm like 100 years late. But I'm The "Retro" Critic! :P I remember catching a glimpse of this iconic show back in the day and actually finding it pretty entertaining. Sadly, I hadn't followed the thread from the very beginning so it felt like catching the season about halfway through would be a bit of a waste. I decided to wait until I could check it out on DVD. 10 years later... Well I finally made it, that's the main thing, right? So was it worth the wait? What do I make of this very first season? It's good. I thought it would be quite good and it was. Basically I'm rarely taken by a cop-themed series unless you've got a mad scientist in there ( Fringe ), evil twins ( Alias ) or... Columbo ( Columbo ). But 24 did a hell of a good job keeping me entertained throughout and making me care about MOST of what was going on. Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer is a hard one to dislike and is pretty much the glue holding the whole sho
Read more

THE ADDAMS FAMILY MUSICAL - REVIEW

Image
 Looks like every Broadway comedy musical these days is trying to be The Producers ... Mel Brooks' hugely successful show now being the basic template for shows based on movies (with the exception of the admittedly *ahem* unique Spiderman musical), after Dirty Rotten Scoundrels we're treated to Broadway's The Addams Family. An odd release but probably an inevitable one. Not based on any of the movies, the story actually follows up from past adaptations and sees a now grown-up Wednesday falling in love with a "normal" dude and having to face her unconventional family. It's essentially Addams Family Values with Wednesday taking on the Fester role. A good idea which should please both fans of the films and those looking to see something new. But what works for The Producers just doesn't work for everything. Nathan Lane as Gomez Addams? So much for the tall, suave, maniacal Gomez we all know and love! Don't get me wrong, I love Nathan Lane but list
Read more