Inferno (1/24/2017)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence, disturbing images, some language, thematic elements and brief sensuality.

Starring Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones and Ben Foster

Directed by Ron Howard (The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, Ransom and Apollo 13)

Howard and Brown want you to think Inferno is a smart mystery…but it plays out like a dumb popcorn action movie.

Inferno continues the Harvard symbologist’s adventures on screen: when Robert Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks, a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories and prevent a madman from releasing a global plague connected to “Dante’s Inferno.”

This is the third film in the Robert Langdon series, preceded by The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. The hero of Dan Brown’s bestselling books, Langdon, once again played by Tom Hanks is a lot like Indiana Jones — an academic who’s constantly swept up in adventures that take him across the globe. There are more than enough historical tidbits and a few religious “facts”, but in the end, it feels pretty hollow.

There are a few action sequences, like the foot chase across the beams above the ceiling of the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall of Florence. But Inferno is less exciting and less intense than it’s predecessors.

Tom Hanks is not your typical action-adventure superhero. He runs around awkwardly spouting off historical anecdotes like a middle-aged high school teacher…and not the cool high school teacher. I like Tom Hanks, and I like the Langdon character, but this one felt off. Felicity Jones is ok and Ben Foster should have had more screen time.

Inferno is pretty forgettable. It’s definitely not the best film from Hanks and Howard. So if you’re asking me, I would say “Skip It.”

SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
There is no sex or nudity, but the film contains some fairly intense scenes of violence.

There is one use of the F-word and a few other profanities.

CONVERSATION STARTER:

1. Why is Robert Langdon so good at solving these mysteries?


2. Why do you think he knows so much about art and literature?

Read 2 Timothy 2:15

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.


3. Why is it important to read and know the Bible?