Skipping The Lost Symbol altogether Ron Howard was asked to do the Inferno movie instead. Unfortunately, Ron’s Robert Langdon franchise isn’t really doing so great when you take into account the colossal success of Dan Brown’s books. Do you wonder – is it because of Ron Howard’s direction? Or whether is it because it takes away almost everything from a book when a director is trying to give us a gist through his frames. The latter, right?
Well that’s an enclave we cannot help moving towards, given the limited time frame allotted to directors. But then of course there are things that we could definitely furbish so that the end result doesn’t look all impoverished in sheer adequacy at least.
INFERNO MOVIE PLOT
Inferno finds Tom Hanks reprise his role as the renowned professor Robert Langdon yet again. This time however he is shaken and messed up by what looks like a probable head injury. He wakes up in a hospital with Dr. Sienna Brooks played by Felicity Jones tending to him. Soon bullets ensue coming from a stout Vayentha. What follows is a quest to figure out what, who and why someone had him drugged whilst trying to decode Dante’s morphed map of hell that he found in a Faraday pointer in his belongings.
The attempt is then to foil a deadly plan of mass killing that Bertrand Zobrist (Ben Foster), a billionaire debatable visionary has hidden in an unknown place. Inferno movie retains a great culminating point (which was terribly shown) which basically helps it to fight the franchise’s redundancy. But alas! It’s not enough!
DOZENS OF ISSUES (SPOILERS AHEAD)
The beauty of a Dan Brown novel lies in the fact that you are constantly decrypting codes alongside protagonists. That’s where the thrill lies. Figuring everything out by yourself, that makes you feel kind of intelligible. Au contraire, a movie however gambols on leaving you with a distasteful serum. You are trying to figure out something, but you realize the actor has already figured it out. That’s where the blame to ‘movie editing’ should really flare toward.
Glimpses that Robert Langdon see of Inferno, though abounding with theatrics vex you too much with their flickering lights. It doesn’t let you garb frames in a proper focus. Sometimes you can’t help but wonder where did Howard’s tranquility go?
Then the worst one is how Ron Howard decides to mess with the story. We find Elizabeth Sinskey portrayed by Sidse Babett Knudsen as Robert Langdon’s former love interest. In an attempt to slow down a bit, Ron keeps stretching their absent chemistry beyond limit. It is almost as if he rushed in towards the ending just to reach a dead end. That’s where the movie actually slows down a bit, and lets you swallow focus. But really! We could have lived without that cheap twist Ron.
Even though the betrayal and it’s follow up was brilliantly shot, Ron Howard went as far as to change the ending. According to Ron, Sienna ends up becoming the ‘immature’ girl in the Inferno movie, which wasn’t really the case.
CONTRASTING ACTORS
One of those actors who seemed to be acting extraordinarily well for a highly paced movie was Irrfan Khan. His flair for dialogues as he broods for a while before delivering his lines brings along all the experience he has garnered over the years as an actor. His portrayal of Harry Sims The Provost though limited was beautifully carved.
Then there was the worst one too. Christoph Bouchard, portrayed by Omar Sy ladies and gentleman! even though he is a good actor, he seems a tad out of place. As if it wasn’t supposed to be his timeline at all. There is no subtlety when he assigns his agents to follow up a feigned lead, and then goes to contact Langdon and Brooks.
So now you know Dan Brown books are way better than the movies, you can order the illustrative Inferno book from here:
THE FINAL VERDICT
As the old maxim goes, “Read the book!”, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to watch Robert Langdon movies. All that Dan Brown knowledge that slithers on to cryptic leaflets go poof, if you choose to watch its movie instead. Ron Howard has never really done Dan’s books justice, like ever. It is time someone else gets into his shoes, or even better try to helm a slow paced pensive thrilling TV series. Now that would do him justice!
You can check out the Inferno movie trailer here:
Inferno
Pros
- Irrfan Khan's cameo as The Provost
- The Big Culminating Point
- Dan Brown's beautiful story
Cons
- Omar Sy's portrayal of Bouchard
- Too fast sometimes
- The beginning vexing bits
- Messing with the original story
- Doesn't do the book the justice it deserves
Comments
The plot of inferno movie is very interesting. The summary of this movie attracts me a lot. Thank you for sharing with me.
Author
That’s great Zaki. That makes me really happy. Please subscribe if you wish to stay tuned for more broody reviews 🙂