Inferno

So, Ron Howard, Tom Hanks and Hans Zimmer return for the third movie adaptation of Dan Brown's bestselling symbolist and iconology professional, Robert Langdon. Though we seem to be ironically missing, The Lost Symbol where Langdon tramples over Washington's Masonic history, which is currently in development but with Howard only sitting in a producers chair.

Howard's direction, or the editing seems sloppy and rushed with noticeable out-of-sync audio. It shows that they struggled with cramming as much as the butchered novel into the 121min runtime, missing possible reshoots as some of the performances are really not up to scratch, namely Sidse Babett Knudsen and Omar Sy.

Hanks, slips into Langdon mode totally as expected and the delightful Felicity Jones plays the Bond-girl style sidekick very well as we watch them try to figure out the same puzzles and twists Langdon is usually pitted against. It's unfortunate that the more I think about it, the more silly the elaborate idea becomes.

There's inconsistencies and obvious inaccuracies with the book and I wonder how much power Dan Brown had as executive producer. The story here appears much weaker than the novel, as does some of its characters, especially the reworking of Irrfan Khan's "Provost". A lot of the reasonings are just weak and unrealistic which is a shame for something which could actually happen.

Zimmer's score is of the recognisable Langdon theme but, it's been digitised adding a terrible technical feel that might accompany a espionage thriller. Again, giving me the assumption that the film was rushed and not the polished film it should have been.

What's possibly the biggest disappointment of the film is the factual reality that the story is based on, and as much as we all might like the previous, popular Brown conspiracies, this story is a real looming crisis. It lacks the serious impact the book gives of the current population crisis, the fact that we're nearly 9 billion people on a planet that can currently only support an estimated 4.

It fails to question what we should or what would we do in this situation, which we are actually in and is a serious topic for world governments, councils and organisations like WHO. Should we actively do something about population control or let nature take it's natural course. I don't honestly believe this film has audiences going home and taking a long hard think about the issue or the implications of viruses and other methods of population control. The real question being, do we let people die or save as many as we can to keep mankind from extinction.

True to most trilogy tragedies, this is certainly the worse of the series so far and I'm hoping The Lost Symbol doesn't fall to the same fate with a rumoured Mark Romanek at the helm. I had low expectations to begin with and unfortunately it didn't hit the mark.

Running Time: 6 The Cast: 6 Performance: 6 Direction: 4 Story: 5 Script: 5 Creativity: 7 Soundtrack: 4 Job Description: 3 The Extra Bonus Points: 0 Would I buy the Bluray?: actually yes, only to be part of the series.

46% 5/10

This film tells the story of a cryptology professor who wakes up in a hospital in Florence, not knowing why he sustained a head injury. He then finds out that he has to solve a mystery to prevent the release of deadly virus planted be a fanatical man.

"Inferno" is a change from the previous two films, because this time Professor Langdon doesn't know it all, and the female sidekick doesn't ask a million questions to help clear things up for viewers. This time, Dr Brooks even provides encyclopaedic knowledge when Professor Langdon is incapacitated. However, there is little cryptic mystery to be solved, which makes the film rather uninteresting. They run around like a bad version of Jason Bourne. It's slightly disappointing for me.

The Dan Brown's international best-seller is brought to life in this film directed by Ron Howard (Cinderella man) with screenplay by David Koepp and starred by Tom Hanks (Oscar winner for Philadelphia -1993- and Forrest Gump -1994-) as the symbol expert named Robert Langdon , Felicity Jones as Dr. Sienna Brooks , among others . The story talks the Symbologist Robert Langdon ,as he wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia ; he is being treated by Dr Brooks who hopes will help him recover his memories , when there appears a series killer (Ana Ularu) attempting to kill them . Both of them escape and join forces , being pursued by Carabinieris , officers from World Health Organization and a dark organization . Meanwhile , a millionaire , Dante fanatic (Ben Foster) has supposedly developed a new biological plague that will kill off a large portion of the world's population in order to quickly solve the problem of the world's impending overpopulation , citing the Doomsday Argument . Together , Langdon and Brooks , must race across various cities (Florence , Venice , Istanbul) to foil a criminal plot ; being chased by people from the World Health Organization (Omar Sy) , and one of them (Sidse Babett Knudsen) is someone he knows . As they go through the obscure conspiracy that lies before them and run against the clock to avoid a deadly global scheme .

This thrilling movie is a genuine ripping yarn with intrigue , mystery , tension and outstanding surprises . Inferno is a moving mystery thriller based upon the novel by American author Dan Brown and the fourth book in his Robert Langdon series , following Angels & Demons , Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol . The book was released in 2013 and it was number one American Best Seller list for hardcover fiction and Combined Print & E-book fiction . In comparison with the previous two films that focused more on solving codes and riddles and religious against science situations , Inferno (2016) focuses more on moral dilemmas , global diseases , memory loss and character development.

Nice interpretations all around , as main cast as support actors . Tom Hanks gives a magnificent acting , as always , as the American professor of Symbology at Harvard University relentlessly pursued by police forces or organizations and attempting stop a madman from unleashing a global virus that would wipe out half of the world's population . Attractive Felicity Jones , she is pretty good as Dr. Sienna Brooks who teams up with Langdon to discover a malicious world plot . Stunning Ben Foster as Bertrand Zobrist , he is a transhumanist genius scientist , a brilliant geneticist and magnate who is obsessed with Dante's Inferno , he is intent on solving the world's overpopulation problem by releasing a virus . Charming Sidse Babett Knudsen as Elizabeth Sinskey , the former Robert's love interest , and nowadays the head of the World Health Organization . Sympathetic Ida Darvish as Marta Alvarez , an employee at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence who assists Langdon with Dante's death mask . Splendid Ana Ularu as the Consortium's agent in Florence who has orders to follow Langdon but is later disavowed by The Consortium , she falls after a confrontation with Robert and Sienna in the Palazzo Vecchio . Furthermore , Omar Sy and Irrfan Khan as two suspect spies . Stirring and evocative score by Hans Zimmer who composed the music of the three Robert Langdon films . In comparison to Code Da Vinci (2006) and Angels and Demons (2009), where the music was mostly orchestral with a few cues of electronic music , this film has a heavier electronic content . Colorful cinematography by Salvatore Totino , this is the only film of the trilogy to be shot with a 1:85:1 Widescreen aspect ratio, as well as the only one to be shot digitally . Being shot on location , this is the second film where Robert Langdon is in Italy , with the first film being Angels and demons , though the majority of the film was shot in Hungary for budgetary reasons . The picture lavishly produced by Brian Grazer was compellingly directed by Ron Howard , this is the fifth collaboration between Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard . Although it had a budget of $75 million, which was much lower than the first two installments.

As usual , there are several cultural , artistic , historical references , including the followings : a modified version of Botticelli's Map of Hell , which itself is based on Dante's Inferno , Dante's death mask , the Battle of Marciano by Vasari . And historical , known locations : the Palazzo Vecchio , Florence , Il Duomo , the Florence Baptistry , Palace and square of Sain Marcos of Venice and the Hagia Sophia and inside Basilica Cistern , in Istanbul, where Enrico Dandolo is buried. The latter was a Doge of Venice from 1192 until his death. He is remembered for his blindness , longevity, and shrewdness, and is infamous for his role in the Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople in which he , at age ninety and blind , led the Venetian contingent , he led to the conquest and sack of Constantinople on April 12, 1204, an event at which Dandolo was present and in which he played a directing role .

Imagine if Spielberg had directed 'Godfather' and Coppola had directed the Indiana Jones movies. Both great directors, but it wouldn't have worked.

Same thing applies here. Like the first two in this franchise, 'Da Vinci Code' and 'Angels and Demons', there's just something terribly wrong with the direction. Yes, the Langdon movies are suppose to be fast paced, but if almost no scenes are allowed to breathe, does it matter?

And why do director Ron Howard keep on insisting insulting my intelligence? Like in the first two, many things are explained twice, so even the dumbest one in the audience knows what's going on.

Then there's the blatant mistake of shooting the movie in standard widescreen, instead of cinemascope, like the first two. When you make a movie with several visually looking fantastic locales around the world, it SCREAMS cinemascope.

And the best park of the book? They completely changed it. Guess they wanted to avoid any controversy.

Hans Zimmer's score was great, as usual, though.

The first two Langdon-movies are hovering at 6,6 on IMDb. So will this when the dust settles.

If the studio decides to make 'Lost Symbol' and - for once - have a Langdon movie getting great reviews, they should probably hire another director.

This review is from the perspective of someone who hasn't read the book but still knows his/her movies.

The movie's start is very confusing at first, where Robert Langdon has some visions but they don't really seem necessary and so it takes quite some time to establish the plot. It lacks the inclusion of Renaissance artists' work or a history lesson here or there, they are there, with the main focus on Dante, however it's still not as much as compared to the previous 2 movies, which just made them so much more interesting.

There a couple of plot twists in the movie but nothing that might throw you off your seat or make the movie more interesting.

Hans Zimmer's background score felt under par compared to the beautiful scores and themes he has given for The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons and countless other movies.

Another thing that I felt lacking was a final turn in the end, like a final nail in the coffin, like the previous 2 movies had.

Overall, I don't know about Dan Brown's novel, but the writing of the script was not up to the mark.