Review of Inferno (2016) by Matthew D — 28 Jul 2018

Inferno's potential flames burn out quickly.

Inferno is hands down Ron Howard's worst film to date unfortunately. The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons are 2 very entertaining mystery thrillers. Inferno (2016) is too long, too dumb, too tedious, and far too convenient to ever entertain. I cannot recommend.

Unfortunately, I just did not enjoy Inferno. I fear that Inferno sadly ranks at the very bottom of Ron Howard's illustrious filmography. Howard's direction is normally smooth, smart, and sizzling at all times. Inferno is slow in pace, underwritten in script, and short in thrills. I do not whether to blame Dan Brown's lackluster novel or David Koepp's ridiculous screenplay. I can only blame Howard for the endless jump cuts and annoying shaky camera work. Inferno is a mess.

I feel obligated to mention that Inferno boasts the single worst CGI I have ever seen in a major motion picture. For Inferno's massive budget, it's effects look terrible. I cannot believe the numerous dream sequences, garish nightmares, and ugly special effects were left in. Howard should definitely have removed the ugly demons and CGI entirely.

Even Tom Hanks and Felicity Jones cannot save Inferno from cinematic Hell. Hanks and Jones are both incredibly talented actors, whom I like, but they have no chemistry and even less clever dialogue to work with, honestly. They try their best to give convincing performances while running around Florence and Istanbul, but they can only keep your attention for so long. I wish they gave Jones more to do in particular as she is so charming. Irrfan Khan gives a brief, yet wonderful performance as well. On the other hand, the entire rest of the ensemble is wasted. There are no other notable actors or actresses that delivered memorable roles here.

Musically, Hans Zimmer remakes his old compositions for Inferno, churning out lazy simplified versions of the exhilarating themes from The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. It's too bad as I love Zimmer's scores for these 2 previous films. Inferno's score leaves much to be desired.

All in all, Inferno remains an easily avoidable movie that hopefully ends this tired franchise. I would enjoy the first 2 films, then stop there. Do not watch Inferno!