Inferno: Smoke But No Fire

  By Sandra Olmsted

In Inferno, director Ron Howard opens with a chase up a famous European landmark that ends in the death of Bertrand Zobrist (Ben Foster). Zobrist will continue to appear in the film via internet videos where he espouses the annihilation of a large portion of the human race via the release of a plague.

Those chasing Zobrist to his suicide leap, especially Christoph Bouchard (Omar Sy), seem to be trying to prevent this plague, but with every character in this film, motives are always to be questioned. Although Zobrist takes the secret of where and when his bio hazard time bomb will be set off to his grave, he could not resist leaving clue related to Dante’s Divine Comedy that only Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) can solve. Meanwhile, the hero Langdon drifts in and out of consciousness in a hospital bed suffering from injuries and amnesia but attended by Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones).

Then an armed killer, Vayentha (Ana Ularu), dressed as a police officer tries to murder the groggy Langdon. Brooks rescues him, sending the pair on a race across Europe, searching for clues and answers to the puzzle of where the plague bomb is located and pursued by Christoph and Vayentha, among others. Stolen from Hitchcock, the pursued pursuer is used with less finesse here.

Elsewhere, Harry Sims (Irrfan Khan), who heads up an ultra-expensive, ultra-secret private security firm realizes that the company has been unwillingly involved in this murderous plot by Zobrist, their deceased client. Sims offers his assistance to Langdon’s longtime love interest and friend, Elizabeth Sinskey (Sidse Babett Knudsen), who works for the World Health Organization which is trying to save the world from Zobrist’s belief that the world needs its population culled in order to survive. Meanwhile, Langdon’s memory of recent events might be impaired but he can still remember a lifetime of scholarly minutiae.

Director Ron Howard’s third adaptation in the Dan Brown franchise still feels more like an educational travel show gone horribly wrong with its fascinating backdrops for the characters to run through or use as clues. Despite the usual fast pace, the film seems to cover the same ground as the previous installments even though Inferno has plenty of plot twists and excitement. Unfortunately, the big fight at the end is marred by the need to make one of the obscure bad guys some kind of Rasputin, who can’t be killed, and by the knocking off of a new character who would have been a great addition to the franchise.

The terrific international cast adds to the excitement and makes the suspension of disbelief easier. With the ten years since The Da Vinci Code and seven since Angels & Demons, one has to wonder if Howard and Hanks just wanted another European vacation they could write off.

Inferno, a Columbia Pictures release, runs 121 minutes and is rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence, disturbing images, some language, thematic elements and brief sensuality. In theaters now, Inferno provides all the popcorn spilling thrills the franchise promises.

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