Based on the novel by Dan Brown and directed by Ron Howard, Inferno is the third instalment in the adventures of renowned symbologist Robert Langdon. Academy Award winner Ron Howard is back to direct the latest in Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon series, which yet again follows Langdon in Inferno which has our favourite symbols expert following a trail of clues tied to the magnificent Dante himself. When Langdon arises in a Florentine hospital with amnesia, he saddles up with Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), a doctor who he hopes will lend her assistance in recovering his memories. Together, they set off on a journey across The Continent against time to stop a certain indivual from unleashing an epidemic across the planet that could wipe out half of the global population.

Many reviews I’ve read have complained that the movie was nothing like the book. In other news, this is Hollywood where studios don’t care about faithful adaptations, just selling tickets and making the megabucks. Welcome to Capitalism! Get over it folks! The movie is good. Is it as good as the book? No it’s not. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch it. Movies are made first and foremost, to make money. Secondly, they are made to entertain. And lastly, to tell stories. Inferno does tell a story. It’s just varied to the story to what we read in the book with a changed ending. I have read all the of the Robert Langdon books far. The films are very different to the books and that’s okay. The books and the films are very separate. Why complain about something that you have no power to change? I see them both for what they are and I enjoy both individually.

The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons are fairly decent flicks provoking its audiences to think by utilising that little thing we have called our brains that we use to process thought. Inferno does the same thing. I feel that Inferno obligates us to think a lot more than the previous two movies because of it’s very 21st century, despite the constant looking back to the past in the mythology and history of Dante’s Inferno. Truth be told, it’s not as historical and mythological as the book, but it does the best it can without it becoming a history lecture. If it was a lecture, people wouldn’t watch it. Not every film watcher wants to be talked at in this way. The book is more info-centric and that’s where this film loses, but also wins. I wish it did have more info but at the same time, I understand why they didn’t cram in more information.

Dan Brown’s Inferno is a phenomenal read that really turns those mental cogs. For me, it’s a page-turner that I couldn’t get enough of it. I know somewhat the summary of Dante’s Inferno and I tip my hat to anyone who is brave enough to dabble in it. It’s a highly interesting subject matter that is not for the fainthearted. Dante’s Inferno is a prime example of sensational imagery that could never be done justice in one film. Dan Brown’s Inferno needs the television treatment. In my belief, Inferno is denser than The Da Vinci Code but all that being said, I really enjoyed the film. It’s entertaining and makes you really think about the world, history and philosophy. In a nutshell, it makes you use the parts of the brain that writers and artistic people use at three in the morning.

Felicity Jones’ Sienna (Theory Of Everything) is really something special and is more than Langdon’s match. She’s smart, cunning and highly resourceful. She’s the pinnacle of “things are more than what they seem”. The film falls with her lack of backstory but Jones has the acting ability to manipulate the script to give the best performance she could. She has a good rapport with Hanks but I’d like to have seen more development to her character. I’m not a book elitist by I any means. I still watch Game Of Thrones. Hopefully, Rogue One in December will use Felicity Jones to her maximum potential.

With the two leads, the film’s plus points are things like its pace. It rarely slows down. Its visuals are excellent. It follows the suit of its predecessors in this way. We are introduced to Omar Sy’s Christoph Bruder who I didn’t take to. To be frank, he’s a slithering snake who can’t be trusted. Your friend in one moment but your enemy in the next. In conjunction, we also have Zobrist played by Ben Foster (Hell Or High Water). He’s the catalyst to the film’s events. I was very fond of Elizabeth Sinskey, played by Danish actress Sidse Babett Knudsen. She started out as neither good or evil but her motives were soon revealed. And I liked ther relationship with Langdon. As his memories return, we see that she’s a keeper for sure.

All in all, this is good film. Inferno like many other movies, follows the tradition of not being as good as the book but it’s a good film in its own right. I enjoyed it most because of the concepts and themes explored more than its characters and technical elements. In 2016, this is another one of those movies that you have to watch in order to make up your own mind rather than taking corporate critics’ opinons as gospel. We all know genocide is wrong but I left the cinema very enlightened by Zobrist’s thinking, despite being a bit radical. And then I thought…

Did Zobrist’s ideologies have any merit? Well, maybe