Inferno review – a dull and lazy adaptation

‘Robert Langdon and Dr. Sienna Brooks race against the clock to foil a deadly global plot.’

Ron Howard and Tom Hanks return for another adaptation of Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon novel ‘Inferno‘. Sadly, like the previous two films, Howard continues to struggle translating an exciting and engaging mystery novel into an exciting and engaging movie. What looks good on paper doesn’t make for a compelling viewing experience.

The story also is a unoriginal re-tread of the previous instalments as Hanks’ Professor Langdon gets unwittingly drawn into another globetrotting, puzzle solving mystery, that will ultimately lead to something that will have huge and dire ramifications for mankind if in the wrong hands.

The only difference this time round is that the stakes have been escalated to an almost apocalyptic scenario as Langdon who, after suffering from amnesia, must follow a trail of breadcrumbs that will eventually lead to a virus that can wipe out half the world’s population.

Following from the book, Howard also attempts to play with our morality by having the virus itself being developed by eccentric billionaire Bertrand Zorbrist (Ben Foster), who believes that humanity will face extinction if the population isn’t kept in check. If played right it could have been a really engaging and complex narrative that would have got the audience questioning their own ethics. Instead, Howard glazes over that aspect and focuses on the puzzle solving as Zorbrist decides to elaborately hide the virus for his followers to find if anything should happen to him.

Besides the over familiarity of the narrative and unoriginality, there are other problems with Inferno. For one thing, it’s not very exciting watching this adaptation unfold out on screen, and is clearly being hidden by a rushed pace where everyone’s running and talking quickly. Also, the cameras is are constantly moving, giving the impression of action, but actually very little is happening with Tom Hanks and Felicity Jones just running from one historic land mark to the next while being chased by various organisations. There are also some glaring plot holes that will require a suspension of disbelief to a level that might be too much for some.

Fortunately, Hanks is always watchable, and him playing that everyman archetype is something that he does best. He certainly can’t save the film on his own, but he does his best. Regrettably, the same can’t be said for Felicity Jones’s Sienna, the obligatory sidekick who gets pulled into this unnecessarily complicated quest.

She’s unable to show any interest in her role as she sleepwalks through the entire runtime. The only other interesting characters are Irrfan Khan’s head of a private security firm and Foster’s Zorbrist who both showed potential but weren’t really utilised or developed that well.

‘In terms of action, the few set pieces we do have are so poorly directed and shot that you’ll struggle to follow what’s happening.’

This is all thinly disguised by Hans Zimmer’s score, which helps make everything feel more dramatic than it really is, but unfortunately, isn’t enough to hide the glaring fact that what we have in front us is rather boring, and has clearly been rushed through production with no real care taken in adapting the source material. As a result, Inferno is a poorly put-together film that is heavily relying on Hanks’ star power, and the already existing fan base of Dan Brown’s novel to drive its success.