Inferno

Inferno

Starring Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Omar Sy, Ben Foster

Directed by Ron Howard

The Story:
Harvard University professor and world-renowned symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) wakes up in an Italian hospital with no recollection how he got there, but he's plagued by nightmarish visions of death, blood and horribly deformed people.  Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) tells him that he was brought to the hospital with a wound to the head, and then they're both attacked by a female assassin.

They make their way to Sienna's apartment, where Robert remembers being given a vial that contains a Faraday pointer, which shows an image of hell as depicted in Dante Alighierti's "Inferno."  They also learn that madman billionaire geneticist Bertrand Zobrist (Ben Foster) - who killed himself three days prior - plans on unleashing a plague known as Inferno to the world in order to help decrease the human population before it reaches critical mass.  Langdon correctly deduces that he has the map to the virus, and that's why he's being hunted.

As they travel across Europe disciphering ancient clues to the whereabouts of the virus, both Langdon an Sienna are being chased by the World Health Organization and a mysterious group known as The Consortium, and the lines become incredibly blurred between who is good and who is bad, and who wants to literally watch the world burn.

The Synopsis:
Author Dan Brown caused quite a stir when he wrote "The Da Vinci Code," a novel that was controversial due to its alleged misrepresentations of Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church.  He continued to write novels centering around Robert Langdon and his journeys, including "Angels and Demons" as well as "Inferno," which is actually the fourth book in his series ("The Lost Symbol" was the third).  Ron Howard decided to direct "The Da Vinci Code" in 2006 and Tom Hanks took on the role of Robert Langdon, to critical and popular success.  "Angels and Demons" came out in 2009, and in 2016 "Inferno" was released ("The Lost Symbol" wasn't made because both Howard and Hanks showed no interest in doing it).  This marks Tom Hanks' first time starring in a live action sequel, and Howard once again steps behind the camera, despite his dislike for sequels (he considers these films as stand-alone films that feature the same protagonist, but different stories that don't necessarily intersect otherwise).

"Inferno" is one of the more simplistic tales in the Brown series, and focuses more on moral choices, character development and global devastation rather than convoluted, complicated puzzles that the other two films are known for.  It's also the shortest film in the series, and the most intense, mostly due to Langdon's cryptic visions of a hellish future with feet sticking out of the ground, people walking around with their heads twisted and literal rivers of blood that makes "The Shining" look like a tiny pond.  It was quite interesting and established a sense of dread throughout, along with Howard's mimicking of the "Jason Bourne" series by shooting with shaky cameras to intensify the experience.

The story is very simple: a virus is about to be unleashed that will take out most of the world's population, and Langdon has to stop it.  Still, it poses a very existential quandary: kill millions of people now to preserve the human race in the future, or don't and see humanity's extinction in one hundred years.  Of course, with any hypothetical such as this, there's more than those two options, but the characters don't seem to see it.  Either they're on the side of releasing the virus, or not and rolling the dice. 

Italy serves as the main location for the film, and Howard does a beautiful job in making it look so enticing and intellectually brilliant, and it made me want to travel there to see such marvelous historical buildings and artifacts on my own.  This is where the film really shines in depicting the awesome nature of history and making it really come alive.  From "The Da Vinci Code" to "Angels and Demons" and now here, history sits at the forefront of the story, and as much as I love American architecture, I'd love to visit a country where the buildings have been in existence for decades. 

Tom Hanks is one of the most prolific and accomplished actors of our time, and here he once again blends Langdon's extreme intelligence with his mild-mannered everyman persona is a perfectly blended way where you neither despise Langdon's superiority nor feel he's too much of a caricature.  He also faces his most physical role in the series with "Inferno," and for a man of sixty, that's no small feat.  Still, he more than holds his own whether he's deciphering clues from a Dante Death Mask or traversing one inch long beams atop a centuries-old museum.  Felicity Jones is his spunky sidekick who is pretty much in every way his equal, despite being decades younger than him, saying she remembers hearing a lecture he gave when she was nine.  These two Academy Award-nominated actors work very well together despite their age differences and you're fully invested in their cause. 

The thing I appreciated the most about this film is how it keeps you guessing to the very end.  Friends become enemies, enemies become friends, people get double-crossed and those you think are good are really evil, and those who seem evil turn out to be good.  It's a dizzying ride from start to finish and - even though it's not the best of the series - it's still a respectable addition to the franchise.

The Summary:
Filled with haunting images, a compelling twisted story and fantastic actors, "Inferno" serves as another brilliant addition to the Dan Brown series that keeps you guessing and on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

The Score: A-