'Inferno' Movie Review

​Hello, fellow moviegoers!
   Inferno is directed by Ron Howard, and it stars Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, and Irrfan Khan. When Professor Robert Langdon wakes up in a hospital with no recollection of the previous few days, he must discover what he’s doing in Italy, as well as why people are after him. During all of this, he uncovers a plot to release a new plague into the world to attempt to “thin out the herd”. He must race against the clock to stop this disease from getting out as he’s remembering more and more about what got him into the situation. This film is the third in a series that includes The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. 

   Unless you’re a fan of this character, you have no excuse to see this movie. Inferno was uninteresting, long, and hard to follow. It’s a perfect example of a film that has absolutely zero impact on its audience.
   You would think a movie starring two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks, and Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, directed by Oscar winner Ron Howard would be a fantastic film. No question about it. However, the directing in this film was mediocre at best, Tom Hanks seemed indifferent, and Felicity Jones was there just to have another big name attached to the project.
   Inferno gets starts on a bad note, and it doesn't get much better than that. Almost immediately, the film is using a really poor shaky-cam method and quick jump-cuts to show what's going on. Or, at least it's trying to show what's going on. It's almost impossible to tell what's going on, or what you're looking at. It's incredibly distracting, and it actually gets pretty frustrating at times.
   The entire film felt unenthused. It feels like it was made solely to try and make a little bit of extra money. How can you expect a movie to be good when nobody wants to be making it? Watching this film, it seemed like everyone in front of and behind the camera didn’t want to be there. It’s so blatant that everyone was there just to make a quick paycheck, and nobody actually wanted to make this movie.
   Inferno, to put it lightly, was a boring movie. It tries to keep you interested by throwing puzzles and action sequences up on the screen, but even those miss the mark. From beginning to end, watching this movie felt like a chore. Because of the audiences’ disinterest, the movie feels much longer than it actually is. The movie is about two hours long, but it easily feels like three. In fact, it felt so long that it prompted me to do something that I absolutely never do. I actually turned on my phone and checked the time. I was expecting it to be at least 9:20, it was only 8:40…
    Also, regarding the plot, it seemed to be trying to do way too much. Tom Hanks and Felicity Jones were going on a sort of Amazing Race style search for this plague. They first have to discover study Dante’s Inferno through a glorified laser pointer, discover this plague, go to one location to try find an item that’s already been stolen (surprise!), find that item again, read a hidden message, go to a different location, and then find the place where the plague will be, so they can then attempt to stop it. It’s incredibly confusing, and not just for the audience. Minor spoiler alert: there is a point in the film where the characters go to the entirely wrong country. They get so confused by everything that they end up going somewhere that they have no need to go. Conveniently, there is another coincidental clue in this country, though, so it all works out.
   Inferno is a bland, confusing, and blatantly uninteresting film. Nobody in front or behind the camera gave the impression that they actually wanted to make this movie. It feels much longer than it actually is, and watching it feels like work. Unless you are a big fan of the Robert Langdon character, which I know there are, you can avoid this movie. Last week, I said that Jack Reacher: Never Go Back felt like “the type of movie you’d find in a $2 bargain bin at a truck stop”. Well, the same can be said for Inferno.

2/10

​   What did you think of Inferno? Was it more interesting to you? Let me know by commenting on this post! Also, if you enjoyed this review, share it on Facebook and Twitter. Don’t forget, I post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so check back then for more movie reviews and miscellaneous movie thoughts!
 
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