Aptly Named Inferno Is 'Hell'

Even the ever-lovable Tom Hanks can't save this movie. Critics are giving the latest Robert Langdon adventure Inferno, based on the Dan Brown book in which Langdon must use Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy to track down a virus with the potential to destroy half the world's population, a terrible 20% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Here's what they're saying:

• "You don't need a hidden set of clues to decipher that Inferno is one of the worst movies of the year," writes Adam Graham at the Detroit News. It's "hell." The rest of his review is no less harsh. This is "an undisciplined, scattered mess, with twists and plot revelations unspooling with soap opera uncanniness," he says. In fact, "you wish it would combine with the National Treasure movies so Nic Cage could appear and at least liven things up a bit."
• "It is hard to overstate how bad this abysmal film is," notes Colin Covert at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "Scene after scene after scene after scene shows [Langdon] sprinting to safety as fast as the film makes you want to bolt for the exit." It's not all bad, though: Irrfan Khan portraying the head of an organization in search of the virus "is by far the witty highlight of the film, the best thing on-screen before the end credits."

• Hanks impresses by portraying Langdon as "the smartest man in the room at all times," yet also "an accessible everyman." But with lines like, "This map is a trail he left so that someone can find it," it's no surprise this turned out to be such a "silly and scattered" flick, writes Christy Lemire at RogerEbert.com. At least Khan "realizes how ridiculous Inferno is, and he's having a blast with it."
• Leslie Felperin, however, says Inferno is "arguably the best in the franchise so far," though "that's not a high bar to jump." There's a strong supporting cast, "satisfyingly delivered" twists, and "striking dream imagery," she writes at the Hollywood Reporter. Think of it as "moderately evolved movie fast food … the cinematic equivalent of Five Guys' burgers, as opposed to ones from McDonald's."

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