SOUNDBITE: Inferno fans flames of curiosity even though it’s a sequel

The latest installment in The Da Vinci Code franchise revisits Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, a professor of religious iconology and symbology at Harvard University as he, yet again, saves the masses.

In order to prepare, I started to watch The Da Vinci Code at home (truly, where would we be without Netflix?) but, being a high school student, life called me away. I never finished the film, and I never even thought about watching the second, Angels and Demons. Thankfully, at least in my opinion, the only thing that they have in common is Hanks.

There is one thing that turns me off of a film quicker than anything: predictability. I’m sad to say that Inferno does have its I-saw-that-coming-from-a-mile-away moments. However, I wasn’t thinking that for every scene. It seems like all three of the movies come from the same template: insert disaster, Professor Langdon’s female companion (in this case, The Theory of Everything’s Felicity Jones), and clues from art by the greats. And viola! You have a film.

Bad things aside, director Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Arrested Development) took Dan Brown’s novel and turned it into a pretty good seek and find thriller. I’ve always loved The 39 Clues style books/movies/video games, so it would’ve been difficult to make me walk out of the theater saying, “Okay Mom, Dad. I’m sorry for that hour and a half you’ll never get back.”

Let me be frank: I don’t go into a film looking for bad things. I don’t commit to memory which actors never use their facial muscles and thus portray emotionless beasts. So, having never seen a production with Jones in it, I was quite pleased with her acting. Her role? Not so much… but that’s not her fault.

Tom Hanks, on the other hand, is an actor I’ve always been a fan of. He portrays Professor Langdon as I picture any old professor: intelligent, maybe a little awkward and humble, especially for a two-time savior of life as we know it. Lone Survivor’s Ben Foster perfectly fits the “extremist doing the right thing for the wrong reasons” archetype. His character, Bertrand Zobrist, is a brilliant transhumanism scientist and biomedical engineer. I mean anyone who plans to take over the world using as great a work as Dante’s Inferno has got to be a true genius.

Every tale seems to need a love story. This film breaks from tradition because the protagonist doesn’t get the girl. In this case, the girl is Westworld’s Sidse Babett Knudsen playing Elizabeth Sinskey. Professor Langdon and Elizabeth wonder what could’ve happened, but nothing comes of it.

Whether it in a TV show, book or movie, people who “fix” charges and allegations for politicians and higher-ups by making them disappear have always made me anxious. Sure, they’re useful people. Theoretically, you can have some serious charges against you dismissed. However, think of all the dirt they’ve got on everyone. They could reveal any one of those secrets and cause complete havoc… Even if I didn’t have a deep psychological fear of “fixers”, Irrfan Khan (Marsrani in Jurassic World) as Harry Sims would still scare me.

All in all, Inferno is a beautifully done action film that keeps you guessing. It recovered from its predictability through good acting and, since I’m a nerd, the fact that it taught me something. I’d give it 8 out of 10 stars and would recommend it, especially if you like crime/mystery/thriller films.