INFERNO : Tuesday 18th October 2016

'INFERNO' which I saw this week was written by Dan Brown, and he has so far had two other Robert Langdon adaptations committed to the big screen - 'The Da Vinci Code' in 2006 which made US$758M from its US$125M budget outlay, and 'Angels and Demons' in 2009 which returned US$486M from its US$150M budget. 'Inferno' is the third movie outing for Harvard Professor of Symbology, Robert Langdon and the fourth book of the series. 'The Lost Symbol' - the third book in the series was skipped over as it was thought by those all knowing Studio Exec's that 'Inferno' would make a more compelling transition to the cinema screen. The Langdon character is reprised once again by Tom Hanks and with Director Ron Howard at the helm. David Koepp wrote the screenplay. The film was made for US$75M and has so far made US$50M ahead of its US release date on 28th October.

The film opens up with a lone man being chased on foot by three assailants. He disappears up a bell tower and upon reaching the top with no where to turn he steps out on to the ledge overlooking the cobbled streets below of Florence. The three men chasing after him emerge, the man is caught, he turns inwards to face the men, some words are exchanged, and the man leans back and plummets to his death onto the street below. We then cut to a hospital bed where a semi-conscious Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is hooked up to a drip, heart monitors and his head bandaged. He is having visions of Hell, the plague, ravaged bodies, violence and death and rivers of blood but all in a modern day setting. He comes around and is greeted by Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) who advises him that he was admitted muttering the words 'very sorry' over and over again and with a bullet wound to the head that is likely to have caused temporary amnesia. Langdon has no recollection of the events that caused him to end up in the hospital bed, and in Florence of all places which he recognises instantly from his bedroom window.

Whilst Langdon is still in pain from his head wound and experiencing ongoing visions which he is seemingly caught in the middle of, Vayentha (Ana Ularu) an assassin, arrives at the hospital in police uniform and makes for the room where Langdon is in recovery. A hospital orderly is gunned down, and in the melee Brooks acts upon her survival instincts and gets herself and Langdon out of the hospital just in time to evade the rapid gunfire at the hand of the disguised assassin. The pair flee to Brooks' apartment where Langdon sleeps. When he wakes he freshens up but still has little memory of the events that brought him to Florence. Rummaging through his old bloodied clothes he comes across an object that he has never seen before, that requires his thumb print to open the stainless steel tube. Reluctantly the pair agree to open it revealing a 'Faraday Pointer' - a miniature projector - which reveals an image of Botticelli's late 15th Century Map of Hell which is based on Dante's 14th Century epic dark masterpiece 'Inferno'. But within the map on closer inspection are certain adjustments, hidden letters and a clue pointing to Betrand Zorbrist (Ben Foster) - the man who fell to his death at the beginning of the film.

Zorbrist it turns out was a billionaire geneticist who believed that the world is overpopulated and that rigorous measures are necessary to reduce the ever increasing population, which he sees as a modern plague. Through his seminars he has captured the interest of a group of followers around the world, and Langdon deduces that Zorbrist had created a virus capable of reducing the global populace by more than 50% - sustainable levels for a fresh start! By now the pair have been traced by the local authorities and the assassin once again, but again Langdon and Brooks manage to evade capture on foot. With Langdon's intimate knowledge of Dante, and of Florence the two embark on a cat and mouse game across the city's secret passageways, hidden vaults and network of tunnels and chambers all the while unlocking other clues as the clock counts down to the release of the virus in some hidden and secure place.

The pair are pursued at every turn by both Christoph Bouchard (Omar Sy) who claims to be working for the World Health Organisation, and Elizabeth Sinskey (Sidse Babett Knudsen) who heads up the WHO and is well known to Langdon. All the while Langdon's memory is coming back to him in flashback. In the meantime, Harry Sims (Irrfan Khan) heads up 'The Consortium' - a very special and secretive interest group who conduct dirty deeds for vast sums of money for the worlds wealthiest clients, no questions asked and confidentiality guaranteed. Sims is in possession of a video recorded by Zorbrist to be played only after the virus has been released, but since his client is dead, Sims plays the video recording, revealing the magnitude of what his client was planning. Sims approaches Sinskey with the knowledge of Zorbrist's final message, and the pair agree to work together to track down Langdon who is the only one capable of uncovering the puzzle and locating the virus stash before it is released. Bouchard however, gets to Langdon and Brooks first and wins them over with tall tales of Sinskey and how she has her own agenda for the virus.

Sims, using his own very particular set of skills tracks down Langdon who has now been captured by Bouchard, and Brooks has made off, but not before Brooks has revealed to Langdon that she was in fact Zorbrist's lover and his accomplice in the plan to release the virus, but the whereabouts of it were not known even to her. She needed him to reveal the location by following the clues and using his expert knowledge, and has since made off, evading capture by Bouchard, so ensuring the virus will be released as planned. In a run down building Sims quickly dispenses with Bouchard freeing Langdon to continue the chase for the virus. After an explanation of how Sims fits into the equation, Langdon reveals that the virus is in fact in Istanbul in the Hagia Sophia, and so the pair make off with  Sinskey in a private jet. We further learn that Langdon and Sinskey have romantic history and that she in fact asked Langdon with help in deciphering the meanings hidden in the Faraday Pointer. Langdon was kidnapped by The Consortium and given a memory loss drug and the whole hospital episode was a ruse, aimed at keeping Langdon off the scent.

The virus is hanging in a plastic bag dangling in the waters of the 6th Century Basilica Cistern close by to the Hagia Sophia. With a once a year music festival taking place within the Cistern and the gathered orchestra in place and well dressed on lookers filling the Basilica, the WHO Team, Sims, Sinskey and Langdon head down to search out the virus bag. So too do Brooks and two other enlisted foot soldiers intent on detonating two bombs in close proximity to the bag that when ruptured with aerosolize the virus. Needless to say its get pretty hairy in the closing minutes as bodies flay about in the shallow waters of the ancient Cistern and the virus is contained. It doesn't end well for the antagonists or Sims, leaving Langdon and Sinskey to return to the respective lives wondering what might have been if they had their time over again, and leaving the world's population in tact at almost eight billion and counting!

For me, after the novelty of seeing Robert Langdon in 'The Da Vinci Code' and then 'Angels and Demons' which were far better introductory films to the world of symbols, imagery, and iconology, I went in to the theatre with higher expectations and came out underwhelmed! In 'Inferno' we have a pedestrian, predictable, popcorn offering that sees the same old same old regurgitated again for the sake of some historic ancient landmarks whilst making light work of Langdon's particular set of skills to thwart a dead mans evil plot. There are too a number of liberties with the story as written by Dan Brown in his book, which I guess is Hollywood's poetic license at work here, but those that have read his page turning unputdownable novels as I have, are likely to pick up on this too. The story here takes a while to get into gear and then when it does it takes its foot off the peddle and meanders along in a by the numbers offering that make this the least engaging of the three films so far. Disappointing, particularly for another Hanks/Howard collaboration, but maybe for half the budget of its predecessors therein lies your answer? Wait for the DVD or BluRay to watch in the comfort of your own home and save yourself the price of a ticket.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-