Inferno

Director Ron Howard and star Tom Hanks, who previously collaborated on the prequels The Da Vinci Code (2006) and Angels and Demons (2009), team up again for this adaptation of the latest book in Dan Brown's thriller series. Here, renowned Harvard art historian/“symbologist” Robert Langdon (Hanks) gets mixed up with a villainous billionaire, Bertrand Zobrist (Ben Foster), who is determined to reduce the world's population by unleashing a sinister super-virus as an apocalyptic plague. But Langdon initially doesn't know what's happening, awakening in a hospital in Florence, Italy, with a nasty cut to the head and a case of amnesia. At his side is Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), and soon both are on the run, relentlessly pursued from Venice to Istanbul by others, including an assassin (Ana Ularu) employed by enigmatic security company operative Harry Sims (Irrfan Khan), and Elizabeth Sinskey (Sidse Babett Knudsen), director of the World Health Organization, who once had a romantic relationship with Langdon. Alluding to Botticelli's painting depicting Dante's conception of Hell, the film serves up a series of prophecies, visions, and trippy hallucinations—all peppered with extended chase sequences—while searching (in vain) for a coherent plot. Inane and frenzied, Inferno not only changes Brown's ending but also seriously fumbles the franchise. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include the behind-the-scenes featurettes “Around the World” (14 min.), “Ron Howard: A Director's Journal” (10 min.), “A Look at Langdon” (7 min.), “Visions of Hell” (6 min.), “This is Sienna Brooks” (6 min.), and “The Billionaire Villain: Bertrand Zorbist” (6 min.), extended and deleted scenes (28 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a bonus UltraViolet copy of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a cinematic mess.] (S. Granger)