The film is ubiquitous with many vision/flashback sequences and montages throughout. Despite its predecessors The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, Howard presented the film’s prologue in a fast-paced manner. The pre-credit scene, for instance, was narrated by the self-proclaimed savior and geneticist, Bertrand Zobrist (Ben Foster), who discouragingly preaches how “pain can save us” to his followers and others worldwide. 

As mentioned before, this particular installment of the Robert Langdon series begins and accelerates at a fast-pace. After the pre-credit narration, the frame brings the audience to the hospital bed where Langdon was just awaken from his brief coma of which was caused due to his presumed accident two days prior. As he was being cared by Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), both characters later become involved in a mission to restore Langdon’s tainted reputation from being mistakenly accused of the Dante Death Mask thievery.

At first, it was a bit difficult to determine the stakes of the film’s preface. Zobrist’s death being the opening act of the film was a bit out of context before his motivations were revealed in the second half of the film. More importantly, him being a single entity that moved many of people’s hearts to do his bidding redeemed the confusing part of specifying the antagonist. 

The story progresses intensely from start to finish. Interestingly, it exudes a slightly different atmosphere compared to Howard’s previous pictures; particularly the fact that Inferno was not as arbitrary in terms of Langdon’s riddle-solving bits and sequences. But, even though this installment may be deemed “less challenging” for admirers of perplexing conundrums, Howard elevated the stakes by betting many lives of the world’s population to the edge.

(Read also: Dan Brown's next thriller, 'Origin,' coming next fall)

Langdon was forced to figure out why he was (allegedly) misplaced in Florence, therefore pledging an allegiance to Brooks’s aid was mandatory in order for him to survive. The events of “defacing” or “masking”, was very prevalent in this film. Langdon was in retrospect, placed in the middle of a whirlwind of chaotic cerebral disfigurement—especially when it comes to him figuring which side to trust. 

Zobrist is by far the most cunning and complex antagonist that the world or Langdon has ever faced. His presence and demise symbolizes messianic implicitness within the after-effects that Zobrist had contagiously instilled in many of his followers. Placing himself as a prophet of a new world does not mean the end of his acts; he too, driven to the extent to recreate the events of the Black Death by concocting his own version of the virus. 

As far as character development goes, Hanks’ persona is inarguably difficult to distinguish from his character as Robert Langdon, who is a stoic man who is obsessed with his interests, yet, very selfless in racing time to prevent the end of days. Jones’ character, Sienna Brooks, was greatly depicted in the film effortlessly. She brought compelling essences that attract certain empathy and glimpses of hope that enabled the audience to dwell deeper in her optimistic demeanors—that of course, before the big turn of event that determined the character’s loyalty. Irrfan Khan as Harry “The Provost” Sims brought hints of hilarity to the screen with his witty quips and cynical jokes. Khan’s character was definitely a breath of fresh air to the stiff and thrill-infused film franchise. 

Dan Brown’s designs of puzzles in the book adaptation were portrayed gracefully across Inferno. His intentions in incorporating modernity within the medieval dynamics are spread subtly with no traces of force-feeding that other films often push a bit too hard. 

Overall, Inferno was a suspenseful film that categorizes various components that make the film whole. Every action sequence, enigma-solving moment and light-hearted scene is packaged with substance. This film definitely betrayed the conventionality of a thriller film, as it diminished the thin line that distinguishes action from thriller. Every eye contact, every path crossed, every intertwined occurrence complement each other realistically, even with a hint of comedic elements. (fmn/kes)

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