Inferno

Year: 2016
Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Irrfan Khan, Omar Sy, Side Babett Knudsen, Ben Foster


Plot: Professor Robert Langdon wakes up in a hospital in Florence with a head wound and no memory of what happened in the last 48 hours. When mysterious people start chasing him, he teams up with a young female doctor to follow the clues and stop a plot to unleash a virus that will wipe out the world's population.


Review: With the success of The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, director Ron Howard had a lot to live up to for his current Dan Brown adaptation, Inferno. 

Once again, Brown's hero Robert Langdon, is thrust into an adventure that involves dodging bullets, chasing clues and stopping bad guys. This time, it involves a virus, made by a man who claims that the earth is being destroyed by overpopulation, and the virus is the answer to that problem. He has hidden it somewhere in the world, and left behind clues which Langdon must now follow to stop a catastrophe. A young doctor, Sienna Brooks is his only ally, and together they dodge WHO agents and a secret firm whose intentions become clearer as the story progresses.

The good stuff about Inferno is the problem solving, of course. Langdon's ability to read clues, refer to history and use them is always the most interesting part of the series. Here, his knowledge of Italian history and buildings, especially secret passages is most handy. As viewers, we are also treated to a sight of iconic Italian attractions in Florence and Venice, much like seeing The Vatican in Angels & Demons.

However, Inferno suffers from predictability, which one would be able to spot as early as the film's beginning. This makes the third act twist ineffective, and what follows after that seem less exciting. On top of that, there is a huge lapse of logic in the plot, like why would someone go through that much trouble to release a virus, leaving clues and all that, when they can just pick a highly populated city anywhere in the world and just release it there?

Tom Hanks is still on point as Langdon, though you can almost sense him looking a bit tired of doing these films by now. Felicity Jones is serviceable as Dr Brooks, while Irrfan Khan is solid enough as the head of the secret firm chasing Langdon. The rest of the cast are alright but none of them can rise above the flawed script.

Inferno turns out to be the weakest of Dan Brown's trilogy. It's a serviceable thriller, but nothing more. (6/10)