Gripping. Another Dan Brown’s novel is turned into a somewhat less disappointing motion picture. Inferno held a lot of promise in regards to story-telling and plot and in most cases it did not disappoint. If you haven’t watched it yet, I highly recommend that you catch it atleast once.
A similar beginning to every tale by Dan Brown where all the protagonists are scattered, unfiltered and distant. Ron Howard, the director uses the blank slate of a mind of the audience very well by pushing the ambiguity just enough to rouse the correct amount of suspense and tension. The movie starts with explaining what it’s going to be about; what it is going to be dealing with. Human overpopulation. And then quickly pans over to an injured Robert Langdon (Played by Tom Hanks) disoriented and suffering from temporary amnesia. The movie has a quick paced start with excellent cinematography and sequence changes which for the viewer’s dreadful luck starts to fade away once the movie progresses and the plot becomes clearer.
Something that I will say about Inferno is that, unlike the other adaptions of Dan Brown’s novels, Inferno has managed to capture certain scenes and sequences exactly like how they were on the crisp pages of the book. And Ron Howard’s absolutely brilliant sense of cinematography and direction has led the viewers who have read the book, to see scenes that they only imagined while reading the words on those crisp pages, come to life and be portrayed by an adroit and on-point cast. The movie grips the viewer’s mind as Robert tries to gather his memories and solve the puzzle to help save half the population of the planet. All of this, while trying to survive assassins, double agents, the Italian police and a lot of other dubious parties. Exactly like a Dan Brown story, the movie takes us on an international escapade to find and prevent a doomsday crisis and save all of mankind. Ranging from Boston to Florence to Venice to Istanbul, the movie takes the audience to these scenic locations. The viewers plunge into the mesmerizing beauty that is displayed over the silver screen and furthermore, the rich history, Dan Brown’s books always love incorporating and using them as a major tool to forward the plot of his stories. The rich middle ages history is a major element in this film.
Somewhere, I feel this movie loses out is in regards to chronology of it’s events. It is known that Dan Brown loves bringing his characters that are scattered in the beginning together and ties them up and makes sure each major character interacts with each other. In order to achieve this, I believe the chornology and time-spacing for multiple characters may have been overlooked causing a discrepancy in logic and therefore leaving a gapping loophole in the plot. But considering the original purpose of the plot and story, that can be overlooked, and may not even catch the eye of a non-observant viewer.
The actors have done a splendid job in justifying their characters, even though I believe the writers could’ve fleshed out the character of Sims (Played by Irrfan Khan) a lot more. Tom Hanks has taken Robert Langdon’s character and as usual has nailed it. He continuous to show us why he is the most versatile actor alive in Hollywood. The writing and editing could’ve been a little better, as it seemed a little abrupt and edgy at times. But it was good enough to hold the interest of the audience throughout and had them at the edge of their seats during the climax. Something that simply cannot go unrecognized is the background score. The legendary Hans Zimmer provides a mesmerizing encore of gripping music without which this movie wouldn’t be half of what it was. And my god, the score during the climax scene with that orchestra. Stroke of genius.
If you’ve read the books, I know you’ve been disappointed with movies. But I will tell you that, this one’s better than most. If you haven’t, then go watch it for an amazing, gripping tale of adventure, suspense and drama. You’re in for a treat.
My rating for Inferno: 7.8/10
Follow me on Instagram: @ryan.mitra || https://instagram.com/ryan.mitra/
flicksfortonight 