Starring: Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Ben Foster, Omar Sy, Irrfan Khan, Sidse Babett Knudsen
Distributor: Roadshow Films
Runtime: 121 mins. Reviewed in Oct 2016
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The poster for Inferno is not wrong. It features Tom Hanks with Felicity Jones behind him racing through the city of Florence. This begins the pattern of novels and film versions of Dan Brown stories, Professor Robert Langdon, an associate, and a quest.
With The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, there was something of a pattern for Dan Brown’s plots: some kind of world-shattering crisis, the deciphering of an obscure code, a race against time, danger after danger, and one of the characters doing a 180° (rather unbelievable, if not preposterous) moral change. This is what happens here.
One of the ingredients that intrigued readers and film viewers but irritated many Christians, especially Catholics, was the focus on the Catholic Church, especially in Angels and Demons. This is not a Catholic story – though there is plenty of an atmosphere of Catholicism with settings in Florence, St Mark’s in Venice – and a Muslim touch with finding an Italian buried in Hagia Sophia.
This time the code belongs to Dante and the Inferno of the title is his – although, the villain of the piece who dies at the beginning of the film, intends to create and Inferno of death by infection, the purging of half the human race, allegedly for its betterment because of overpopulation and the demand on resources.
This villain, seen in flashbacks, is Zobrist, played by Ben foster, a millionaire who is obsessed by overpopulation and is developing a virulent infection attack for his purposes.
Powers that be from the World Health Organisation come to Robert Langdon, familiar with his Da Vinci and Angels and Demons success, to decipher some illustrations on human bone which will lead to the discovery of where the potential plague is stored and how it will be let loose on the world.
This is the third time that Tom Hanks has played Robert Langdon so he is obviously at ease in the role. But, as the film opens, he is not at ease because he has been injected with drugs, injured, abducted, landing in hospital under the care of Dr Sienna Brooks, played by Felicity Jones (who must have been eager to take on the role after reading the screenplay and its complexities). For most of the film, Sienna and Robert Langdon are on the run, trying to evade pursuit by a murderous policewoman, an African (Omar Sy) who may or may not be their friend, a strange expert in faking elaborate scenarios (Irrfan Khan) and the WHO, led by Elizabeth (Sidse Babett Knudsen). In case we were ever wondering about Robert Langdon and his past and his relationships, the screenplay creates a past with Elizabeth.
And the code to decipher? We are shown Botticelli’s painting of Dante’s Inferno on which some letters have been inserted, leading the searching couple to the museum in Florence, contemplating paintings, looking for the death mask of Dante himself, more pursuit which leads the couple to the roof above the painting galleries (and someone crashing through the roof and devastating a classic painting). Escape from the museum leads to the baptistery in Florence, the finding of the mask, and some instructions (from whom and for what reason!) they find by scraping the back of the mask.
On the train through the Italian countryside, on to Venice, St Marks, some surprising revelations of what has happened and then on to Istanbul. All this very attractive for those who have been there – and attractive for those who haven’t.
As with the other stories, all this happens very fast, packing an enormous amount of activity and travel into one day, for a grand climax and Robert Langdon saving the world yet again.
Someone remarked that the film is quite close to the book – which might satisfy the legion of Dan Brown fans and provide some pop entertainment for those who aren’t.
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