Inferno

Plot synopsis:
Florence, ItalyA team of agents are chasing geneticist Bertrand Zobrist (Ben Foster) through the streets. Zobrist runs up to the top of a tower when he is confronted by Christoph Bouchard (Omar Sy). Bouchard demands that Zobrist tell him the location of something important and potentially dangerous. Zobrist instead drops himself out the window of the tower and hits two roofs on the way down before smashing to the ground.Professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is in a hospital bed. He has a head wound and is suffering from disturbing visions of a hellish scene in which people are shown writhing in pain, while others are burnt and some people have their heads turned backwards. Langdon hears voices and sees someone in a hood, along with other people wearing plague masks. When he awakens, he meets Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), who claims to have been a fan of Langdon's work since she was a child. Sienna tells Langdon he is suffering from retrograde amnesia as a result of the wound. Moments later, an assassin named Vayentha (Ana Ularu) comes in disguised as an officer. She shoots one doctor and then tries to break into Langdon's room to kill him. Langdon and Sienna escape the room, but Langdon is losing blood after the IV is pulled off his arm. They make it into a cab as Langdon passes out.Langdon wakes up in Sienna's home. He asks her for coffee, despite somehow forgetting the word for it. As she goes to get it, Langdon looks on his laptop to check his emails. He finds one from a man named Ignazio Busoni (Gabor Urmai). The message states that Ignazio is safe, as is something that he and Langdon have apparently stolen, as well as the message "Paradise Twenty Five".Among Langdon's possessions, he and Sienna find a Faraday pointer, which contains the famous "Map of Hell" by Sandro Boticelli, which was inspired by Dante's "Inferno". It contains letters and Zobrist's name. The two watch a video of Zobrist speaking about his viewpoints on humanity and how the world must be cleansed. This leads the two to discover that Zobrist wanted to unleash a virus worldwide to wipe out billions of people prior to his suicide. Langdon speaks to someone on the phone from the U.S. consulate about being picked up from his room, only to later find out Vayentha and other officers are there for him, forcing him and Sienna to run again.On the streets, Langdon and Sienna try to figure out the meaning of another statement from the Map of Hell, "cerca trova", which is Italian for "seek and find". Associates from the World Health Organization are now out looking for Langdon too, including Elizabeth Sinskey (Sidse Babett Knudsen). She orders all her men to not trust anyone and to find Langdon by any means necessary.Vayentha contacts her associates to speak to "The Provost". This is Harry Sims (Irrfan Khan), CEO of a firm called The Consortium. One of his men reports to Sims about what Vayentha has told him. Sims also demands to see a video that Zobrist had sent him to be seen after the virus had been released.Langdon and Sienna follow clues to the Palazzo Vecchio to see the painting, "The Battle of Marciano", which contains similar writings as the one from the Map. He starts to have more hallucinations and feels a pain in his neck as he remembers being injected with something, leading him to think that he is carrying the virus. Sienna assures him that if he was carrying the virus, everyone around him would probably be dead. They meet with a friend of Langdon's, a museum employee named Marta Alvarez (Ida Darvish). They review security footage and discover that Langdon and Ignazio stole Dante's Death Mask from its exhibit. Langdon must once again run as authorities and museum security get on his tail.Langdon and Sienna run up to the attic over the Apotheosis of Cosimo I. Vayentha encounters the two up there and tries to kill them, but Sienna pushes Vayentha over, causing her to crash through the ceiling and fall to her death. The WHO officials later arrive and see Vayentha's body, and Sinskey appears to recognize her.Langdon and Sienna go to the Florence Baptistry where they locate the mask, following the Paradise Twenty Five clue. On the back of it is another hidden message. Afterward, the two are met by Bouchard, who claims to have been the one that met Langdon in Cambridge prior to his amnesia, and also states that Sinskey and her associates are trying to spread the virus. Bouchard joins him and Sienna as they proceed, but Langdon eventually comes to realize that Bouchard is lying to them and that Sinskey was who he met.Sims and Sinskey meet and discuss the nature of the virus, bringing them to work together to stop it from spreading.After Langdon deduces that the virus is located in the Hagia Sophia, Sienna betrays him and leaves him, revealing that she was Zobrist's lover and is set to carry on his work. Langdon is then knocked out by an assailant.We see an extended flashback of Sienna and Zobrist as lovers as he was explaining his philosophy and work to her, which she grew to follow and support. Since they used to play treasure hunts, Zobrist left clues for her to find in case something were to happen to him.Langdon wakes up and finds he was captured by Bouchard. He was conspiring with Sienna as well. Sims shows up and stabs Bouchard in the neck, killing him. Sims then explains to Langdon that his associates had drugged him with benzodiazepine after he had met with Sinskey and created a fake head wound so that he could help solve the Inferno mystery. Everything that happened in the hospital was also a setup.Langdon and Sims rejoin Sinskey and locate the tomb of Enrico Dandolo, which leads them to figure that the virus will be exposed at the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul.The heroes arrive at the Cistern to stop the spread. Sienna kills Sims as the others race to locate the virus. It's underwater in a container set to be detonated. Langdon tries to stop Sienna, but she blows herself up underwater to ensure the virus will spread. Langdon fights one of Sienna's conspirators, but he is shot by the police. Sinskey then manages to keep the virus contained.The WHO take the virus away. Langdon and Sinskey part ways, but she first returns to him a Mickey Mouse watch that he had lost after their initial meeting.Langdon returns to the museum to ask a security guard to turn the light up on the Dante mask. The guard enters the room and is stunned to discover the mask in its spot. Langdon just walks away smiling.

Tags: suspenseful, murder, historical fiction, flashback, claustrophobic, romantic

Review:
One of the main reasons that I like these books so much is because they provide such a wealth of background historical information so they're a prefect blend of education and entertainment.While it was obviously impractical to include an involved literary discussion of Dante's Inferno in the film, it's a shame that it was barely touched on at all as to me, it was one of the most interesting aspects of the entire story.
It is the equivalent of making a movie about the second world war where Germany wins.If your going to see this read the book afterwards it is far superior.Why it has been changed so much I have no idea , maybe they don't want to offend the W.H.O or the church .I would like to know if Dan Brown approved of this .It may be they just wanted another run of the mill movie where the American hero always saves the day.We need another film maker to step up and make the real Inferno which tells the story as in the book , sensitive issues and all..
If you haven't read the book, prepare to be confused, but it can still be an entertaining ride.Edition watched: 2D IMAX The largest positive for this movie is Tom Hanks.
Aside from Hanks, the story was muddled but chase-movie action and constant changes of beautiful scenery makes this entertaining if forgettable.I have read the book (and liked it) and I went to see it with 2 people who had not read it.For those who haven't read the book, you should know that this is not like the other 2 Dan Brown movies.
Even the ending, which in the book was used to punctuate Dan Brown's obvious point, is radically changed in the movie.
So, Ron Howard, Tom Hanks and Hans Zimmer return for the third movie adaptation of Dan Brown's bestselling symbolist and iconology professional, Robert Langdon.
It shows that they struggled with cramming as much as the butchered novel into the 121min runtime, missing possible reshoots as some of the performances are really not up to scratch, namely Sidse Babett Knudsen and Omar Sy. Hanks, slips into Langdon mode totally as expected and the delightful Felicity Jones plays the Bond-girl style sidekick very well as we watch them try to figure out the same puzzles and twists Langdon is usually pitted against.
This said, the ending doesn't single-handedly bring 'Inferno' down, as there are other just as glaring problems too.Ron Howard's direction is a mess, it is hard to believe that somebody who has a Best Director Oscar and has done some very good to outstanding work directed in a way that suggested more first time director learning (or more like struggling to learn) the ropes, finding urgency is a constant struggle and then he paces things in a rushed and erratic way.Despite the stunning locations and nice location work, 'Inferno' is cheapened by some haphazard editing and over-reliance on high-speed tracking shots that suggest a cinematographer drunk on the job and have a dizzying effect, actually felt rather woozy and sick after seeing the film.
This review is from the perspective of someone who hasn't read the book but still knows his/her movies.The movie's start is very confusing at first, where Robert Langdon has some visions but they don't really seem necessary and so it takes quite some time to establish the plot.
It lacks the inclusion of Renaissance artists' work or a history lesson here or there, they are there, with the main focus on Dante, however it's still not as much as compared to the previous 2 movies, which just made them so much more interesting.There a couple of plot twists in the movie but nothing that might throw you off your seat or make the movie more interesting.Hans Zimmer's background score felt under par compared to the beautiful scores and themes he has given for The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons and countless other movies.Another thing that I felt lacking was a final turn in the end, like a final nail in the coffin, like the previous 2 movies had.Overall, I don't know about Dan Brown's novel, but the writing of the script was not up to the mark..
he's changed the story so much, that watching the movie is an utterly new experience to people who have read the book before, and certainly not a good one!
But who can be trusted?"Inferno" completes the trilogy of Dan Brown based on the adventures of Professor Robert Langdon with a totally disappointing and predictable story.
If you have read the books and enjoyed them you will be happy to know that at least the name is the same.They have COMPLETELY changed the entire movie into something totally unrecognizable, this is complete trash and while I did not expect anything good from it, it STILL disappointed me.The books are good and the best one of them is Inferno and that is because of the absolutely GREAT ending, this movie sh*ts on that and does it's own ending and changes everything for the worse, turning it into this steaming pile of dung that you have before you.DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE!.
The Dan Brown's international best-seller is brought to life in this film directed by Ron Howard (Cinderella man) with screenplay by David Koepp and starred by Tom Hanks (Oscar winner for Philadelphia -1993- and Forrest Gump -1994-) as the symbol expert named Robert Langdon , Felicity Jones as Dr. Sienna Brooks , among others .
Inferno is a moving mystery thriller based upon the novel by American author Dan Brown and the fourth book in his Robert Langdon series , following Angels & Demons , Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol .
The Howard/Grazer-Brown films are set against scenic European locations; star Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, an expert on obscure symbology; feature an attractive, much younger female co-star; involve ancient texts or art works that require extensive deciphering to solve a mystery of great import; and move at a fast-pace in a race against time.
Felicity Jones is lovely as the requisite female sidekick, but she has little to do other than be a decorous plot device and on-screen audience for Langdon's lectures.While the rapid-fire editing of Langdon's hallucinations and visions adds little but confusion, Salvatore Totino's cinematography captures the color of Florence, Venice, and Istanbul, and Hans Zimmer's score is as important an asset to this film as it was to the two previous Dan Brown adaptations.
The film starts in promising style with famed symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) waking in hospital to horrific visions of hell on earth with only the attractive young nurse Dr Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) to soothe his nerves.
Quite bonkers!Unfortunately, the more you ponder the story, the worse it gets, and it is this that fatally drags the film down despite all the good work that Hanks, Jones and director Ron Howard try to counter-balance it with.For there are elements on the positive side of the scales.
The last act though saves a sinking ship and propels it to a thrilling climax.Inferno is the third movie in the franchisee involving Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) the Professor of art and history at Harvard University.Directed by Ron Howard and based on the Novel Series written by Dan Brown.
Oh, I'm not talking about Dan Brown, best-selling author of "The Da Vinci Code", or Tom Hanks, the Oscar-winning actor who plays Brown's most famous character, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, in the big screen adaptations of Brown's novels, or even Oscar-winner Ron Howard, who has thrice directed Hanks in the role of Langdon.
With much-needed help from Sienna, Langdon has to rush from Florence to Venice to Istanbul, while being pursued by World Health Organization leaders such as Elizabeth Sinskey (Sidse Babett Knudson) and Christoph Bouchard (Omar Sy) – who may or may not be on the same team – as well as ruthless agents of a mysterious security firm headed by Harry Sims (Irrfan Khan) – and that very angry and determined female member of the Italian Carabineri."Inferno" is the best of the first three Dan Brown novel adaptations and one of the best thrillers of 2016.
Although I liked this film's predecessors, today, I remember very little of "The Da Vinci Code" and not much more from "Angels & Demons", but "Inferno" is seared into my mind and I think that it's going to stay there for a long time to come.
Based on the book by Dan Brown, "Inferno" finds professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) in Florence as he wakes up in a hospital being taken care of by doctor Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) and he does not remember anything of the past two days.
Quickly details start to emerge, Langodn is hunted down at the hospital, he escapes with Sienna and discovers he is on the run and the only clue he has is a map of Dante's Inferno.Ron Howard is one of my personal filmmaking heros, still that does not keep me from calling "The Da Vinci Code" what it is: a bloated, interminable mess of a film with some little charm to it.
On the contrary I actually was one who really enjoyed "Angels & Demons" and in the same way I had my fair share of fun and enjoyment with "Inferno" and stand proud of such no matter how many times you call upon me how dumb some of the stuff they say in these movies can sound: it is part of the fluff this entertainment is designed to be.Look does this plot make sense for even two seconds when you strip it down with character motivations and internal logic?
It is ludicrous and it is meant to be so, that's what makes it so effortlessly fun, there is no way you can ground a conspiracy theory between renaissance artists and the contemporary destruction of the world keeping a straight face, at least not that I know of, so the film knows what it is and succeeds in giving us two hours of solidly crafted entertainment without making you feel stupid, but treating the whole ordeal seriously enough for you to be engaged, but rarely so dramatically to loose the audience.What makes Ron Howard a great director is the fact that he is an instinctive storyteller, this guy's a natural phenomenon at telling stories and when we see "Apollo 13", "A Beautiful Mind" or "Rush" we just are effortlessly engrossed by these larger than life stories thanks to a flow and a grit in the filmmaking that immediately distinguish a Ron Howard picture.
Howard is a director that knows this medium by heart and even when the weakest of story points is being developed he will find a way to make it come through to an audience.What it basically comes down to is that the filmmakers intention here is to take you by the hand and make you jump into the fun, the film is basically saying to you: "come on, lets go and have ourselves an adventure", one of those adventures that just feels like a wild ride.
Of course it has a couple of stumbles in it of itself: a shoehorned in romance, a slightly predictable plot twist, a couple of plot points that get left behind.Still, no matter how nonsensical everything is, how completely insane the plot manages to go to, how every character seems to be a mastermind of chases and action, not even Tom Hanks' haircut matters, all of this is fitted into a package that manages to hold the strings together and give an audience a ride, it won't be one like "Terminator" of course, but it will be a ride that respects the audience and entertains them."Inferno" walks the fine line between making you laugh at the ridiculousness and engage dramatically perfectly, it is a technically impeccable film with powerful and energetic directing behind it that manages to overcome story and plot inconsistencies also thanks to what at the heart of it is a nice character, portrayed as always perfectly by Tom Hanks.
The plot twists don't make a lot of sense sometimes, I read the book years ago and I would still be hard-pressed to explain how one thing leads to another--but that shouldn't influence anyone's enjoyment of the movie.
Danish actor Sidse Babett Knudsen is pleasant to watch.I cannot rule out Inferno as a bad movie because it is nearly impossible to make books like this into a film.
The best way to enjoy one of the Dan Brown mystery thrillers like THE DA VINCI CODE is to give into the "willing suspension of disbelief" and roll with the flow of the mystery, the clues and the puzzle that unfolds in front of you.Such is the case with the newest film featuring Brown's Master Cryptologist Robert Langdon.
INFERNO is a fun puzzle of a mystery if you don't stop too long to poke holes in the implausibility of the plot and actions.Directed with fury by good ol' reliable Ron Howard, INFERNO follows the adventure of Langdon (the always watchable Tom Hanks) as he is trying to chase down a doomsday virus with clues based on Dante's Inferno.
To top it all off, Langdon is suffering from amnesia (a plot contrivance that always stretches credulity) and, of course, bits and pieces of his memory come back at just the right time.Hanks is ably assisted by Felicity Jones (who will next be featured as the lead in the new STAR WARS film), Ben Foster (as the misguided genius who is going to unleash the INFERNO virus to reduce Global population) and a personal favorite of mine Irrfan Khan (as a mysterious troubleshooter).The action is fast, if a bit clunkily done, the clues make sense (if you allow them to), the twists occur often and the resolution is satisfying.
Having read the book it is a true disgrace to Dan Brown to even claim the name of Inferno as the movie title.
Here, Jones played her part exquisitely, perfectly displaying both sides of her character.I think if they ever do another Robert Langdon film (I'd love to see 'The Lost Symbol' but I know that will never happen because the plot is too similar to 'National Treasure') I'd like to see a new director at the helm to see his take on it.
People who have seen the movie without reading the book will not even know anything about the true nature of the virus.I loved the movie until I watched the ending.
I watched through most of the film generally happy (although a little rushed and less puzzles) and then the ending came and too my dismay the PERFECT book ending that Dan brown gave us was completely changed!!!!
Fans of the book will no doubt draw their comparisons (and let's just say that there are some significant deviations, most prominently the bleak ending which probably would come across too nihilistic for a mainstream audience), but the distillation – complete with reversals, flashbacks and a midway twist – has enabled Ron Howard (who also directed the earlier two adaptations) to produce his most pacey instalment yet of the three- quel.Oh yes, 'Inferno' is probably the least faithful of them, though arguably for the better.
Possibly the worst performance of Tom Hanks and the worst direction of Ron Howard, In Angels and Demons took certain liberties that even though They harmed the book and did not destroy it and the result was "not so bad." But in Inferno they managed to destroy the book, to create A lousy version of a novel of action without action of emotion without emotion, I even seem to see in Falicity Jones a hint of disappointment and reluctance in his interpretation of Siena, Is certainly the worst disappointment Book / Film I've seen, millions of Dollars to destroy a good book..
Yeah, well, the same doesn't apply to Dan Brown adaptations.Scorching betrayal is not just the premise of the plot but also how we are being treated by everyone involved in the makings of this ridiculous, implausible, nonsensical garbage.Langdon, AKA 'This Generation's Indiana Jones Wannabe', has effectively been reduced to a morose, incompetent idiot who, after everything he's been through, after all the double- crossing, riddle-solving, backstabbing, running, shooting, burning, chasing, STILL cannot put two and two together and figure out who the 'bad guy' REALLY is within the first couple of minutes of the film.THE SAME THING HAPPENS IN ALL THREE MOVIES!Who keeps watering this plant?
It doesn't matter casting, direction, location, production, acting and anything if the best part of the book, the GLORIOUS AND GREAT FINALE that made Dan Brown a genius was changed to the most common, stupid ending of a silly Hollywood mystery/thriller movie.
I hadn't read the books that the two previous movies were based on, I only saw the film versions, and I actually preferred Angels & Demons to The Da Vinci Code.
Together, they race across Europe and against the clock to stop a madman from unleashing a global virus that would wipe out half of the world's population.......The laws of diminishing returns come ten fold with the third of Ron Howard's ridiculous interpretations of Dan Browns bizarrely successful series of books, and as expected,,it's pretty much more of the same.But this time, the studio knew that the other two films were not as good as they first thought, so cut the budget to almost half of that of Angels & Demons.Hanks once again spends the entirety of the film running around beautiful places and literally explaining what he is doing every five minutes to Jones, just in case the audience get a little confused as to what is going on.
OK – OK – OKI read the book first, and once again I do not declare myself as some above-the-fray Dan Brown/Ron Howard/Tom Hanks critic.