Inferno
Robert Langdon: "The greatest sins in human history were committed in the name of love."
"Inferno" is directed by Ron
Howard ("Apollo 13", "A Beautiful Mind", "The Da Vinci
Code") and stars Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, Felicity Jones as Sienna
Brooks, Irrfan Khan as Harry Sims, Omar Sy as Christoph Bouchard, Ben Foster as
Bertrand Zobrist, Sidse Babett Knudsen as Elizabeth Sinskey, Ana Ularu as
Vayentha, and Ida Darvish as Marta Alvarez.
Robert Langdon is back in this third
installation of Dan Brown's trilogy of thriller novels. In this chapter of his
adventures, Langdon must solve the clues left behind by controversial billionaire
Bertrand Zobrist to stop a fateful virus from killing half of the world's
population. The journey begins in Italy with Robert figuring out the clues are
tied to famous medieval poet Dante. He and doctor Sienna Brooks must find the
virus first before others can get a hold of it and sell it for some big bucks.
Me: "That trustworthy Tom. I'll definitely follow you."
Wow. Tom, what happened? I'm wanted to
find some reasons to say that "Inferno" isn't that bad. That it's
kind of fun. The idea is fun and Tom Hanks has worked well with Ron Howard in
the past...Nope. "Inferno" is such a letdown. Holy crap, I don't even
know where to start, but there's got to be a beginning. I'll start with how
this adventure is told: confusing! Ironically, me saying I don't know where to
start is what the screenwriters most likely said while writing this script.
Robert Langdon is a character known for his wit and ability to solve difficult
puzzles. The story is told by taking away Langdon's one quirk that makes him
unique and awesome. He wakes up in a hospital with amnesia, which is a familiar
tune that many movies use anyways, and not until act three is when he regains
most of his memory. It's tragic that "Inferno" caused one of the only
reasons to watch the movie to dissipate. While I can say Tom Hanks did try and
make me care somewhat for the character, the entirety of the movie was carried,
for me, by the influence of the puzzles: Dante's Inferno. This idea is shown
through Langdon's memories as he tries to take them back. Even that was too
much. The scenes were choppily edited to the point where I thought, "wait
a second. This looks like a "Jason Bourne" film! What's going
on?". I couldn't handle some of the editing at times, which I usually am
fine with in movies like the "Bourne" films and "Mad Max: Fury
Road". However, "Inferno" takes it to another level with the addition
of how the film relies on the memory aspect of Langdon too much.
"Inferno" for sure isn't the
worst thriller you can get your hands on, but it doesn't offer much to get you
to care about a situation that could potentially kill billions of people. Sad,
isn't it? There are three saving graces: Tom Hanks, Irrfan Khan, and the incorporation
of Dante's Inferno. I haven't really talked about Irrfan Khan, who I like in
almost every role he's in. His character kicks ass sometimes and that's really
it. I don't even know what his background is in him being able to be an
assassin or whatever he tries to be in this movie. Besides that, I can't see
anything else that I wouldn't enjoy at a better quality in other thriller's
like "Se7en" or even "National Treasure" as cheesy as film
is. Some books just don't translate well to movies, especially the dialogue. I
couldn't help but feel bad for Tom Hanks when he was forced to describe a cup
of coffee because his character forgot what the word was (due to his amnesia).
What I don't understand is how the hell could he remember weird obscure facts
about Sandro Botticelli's illustration of Dante's Inferno and his password to
his Gmail account. What the f**k?
Maybe I'm being too harsh on a movie that
is based off the book that I haven't read, but like any movie that's based off
a novel, it's still a f***ing movie! I feel like I would like the book a lot
more than the movie, as I can clearly see "Inferno" was clearly a
book while watching it. Ron Howard's
direction of his vision for "Inferno" went up in flames, no pun
intended. I don't know what his intent is on making these movies, but he should
probably stop considering that all three of these movies have had terrible
reviews. I understand that he's at least making his money back so I guess
that's what makes him tick. I just know that Howard and Hanks can do far better
than "Inferno". Hopefully
Howard does his skills justice in the upcoming biopic "Zelda" and
Hanks once again dazzels me in "Toy Story 4". For the love of
Illuminati, just leave "The Symbol", Dan Brown's other Langdon book,
on the shelf. Keep it there and leave that mystery/thriller as a book.
2.0/5
PRO
- Tom Hanks and Irrfan Khan at least tried
- The use of Dante's Inferno is pretty cool, I guess
CON
- Storytelling with overused memory lost plot
- Editing is all over the place
- Script doesn't translate well to screen
- Unfortunately, Ron Howard's directing
"Inferno" is rated PG-13 for sequences of action
and violence, disturbing images, some language, thematic elements and brief
sensuality
Click here to watch the
trailer
"Inferno" is in theaters everywhere now
No comments:
Post a Comment