Starring
Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Omar Sy, Ben Foster, Sidse Babett Knudsen,
Irrfan Khan, Ana Ularu. Directed by Ron Howard. (2016, 121 min).
We
have to address an elephant in the room. Two elephants actually, and
as pachyderms go, both are big ones, which Inferno does a
lamentable job distracting us from.
One
elephant is the film's basic premise, which we're informed of almost
immediately. Bertrand Zobrist (Ben Foster) is a brilliant geneticist
and billionaire who ominously informs us that the rate at which our
population continues to grow will inevitably result in our
extinction unless something is done right now. Whether or not his
sobering timeline is scientifically accurate isn't really an issue; we'll accept it for the sake of the story.
Zobrist's
solution is to release a virus - dubbed "Inferno" - which
will kill half the world's population. Yes, it's an awful idea to
contemplate, yet Zobrist is not depicted as malevolent megalomaniac
or evangelical nutjob. He has almost no personality at all, serving mostly as an expository talking head
(meaning Foster's talent is wasted). In fact, there's
such a twisted logic to his plan that a dark part of the viewer might question if
Robert Langdon really should come to the rescue.
The
other elephant is the fact that Zobrist hides the virus
somewhere in Europe, then purposefully leaves a Dante-related trail of clues to its location before jumping
to his death. Enter Langdon, suffering from amnesia due to head
trauma, and young doctor Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) to try and find it before it's too late. Others, such as members of the World Health Organization
and a mysterious security firm led by the ruthless Harry Sims (Irrfan
Khan), give chase, either to kill Langdon, locate the virus,
or both.
This begs a nagging question: why does Zobrist bother leaving any clues in the first place? Even taking into account the revelation that shows us the individual for whom they're actually intended, this doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If Zobrist is that
smart and truly wants to save the whole world by sacrificing half of
it, why provide the elaborate puzzle at all? Why not just release the
damn thing and call it a day?
 |
| "Look...someone drew boobies." |
Yeah,
I know...there would be no movie otherwise. There would be no Speed,
either, if Jack Traven had the foresight to simply shoot out the
bus's tires before it reached 50. However, that movie was so much
ridiculous fun that at-least we could shoo-away the elephant until
after the credits rolled. But Inferno, the third film based on
Dan Brown's mega-popular novel series, is no Speed. While the
film isn't without its merits, those two tenacious elephants refuse to leave the room, casting a glum shadow over everything.
Whether Langdon saves the day or not, by the film's own logic, either outcome is ultimately going to be an tragic one.
But
never mind. Inferno is just a movie, even if it is
phenomenally self-contradicting. We're not suppose to scrutinize this
stuff too heavily, anyway, and if the plot were more carefully
conceived, we probably wouldn't (at least 'till later). Still, if you
can't get enough of Langdon's exploits and have a big enough can of
pachyderm repellent handy, Inferno works in fits and starts.
Hanks is solid, as usual, though Khan steals the movie as an
unflappable, cold-blooded mercenary. The numerous plot twists and red
herrings range from clever to ridiculous. Director Ron Howard is
once-again slumming here, though he does keep things moving at a
fairly brisk pace, always jetting-off to another exotic location just when our
interest threatens to wane.
Inferno
isn't as much frenetic fun as Angels & Demons, which
threatened to venture into Die Hard
territory. But even with the absurd premise and sloppy story,
it's a damn sight better than the original snoozefest,The Da Vinci
Code.
EXTRA
KIBBLES:
FEATURETTES:
"Ron
Howard: A Director's Journal";
"A
Look at Langdon", "The Billionaire Villain: Bertrand
Zobrist", "This is Sienna Brooks" (character
profiles);
"Visions
of Hell" (behind the scenes of Langdon's nightmarish visions);
"Inferno
Around the World" (location shooting)
DELETED/EXTENDED
SCENES
DIGITAL
COPY
KITTY CONSENSUS:
NOT BAD...BUT TOO MANY DAMNED ELEPHANTS
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