Inferno (2016)

Elevator Pitch: A billionaire, Bertrand Zobrist, has developed a virus which will infect the world and reduce the population by many billions, but being pursued by the police commits suicide. Meanwhile Professor Robert Langdon, expert in everything medieval, particularly relating to Italian stuff, wakes up in hospital in Florence, and is soon on the run helped by a young doctor, pursued by a fake policewoman who has taken shot at them. Soon the fake policewoman, who we know is being programmed by a secret organisation funded by Zobrist, is joined by other secret organisations. Can Robert and Sienna outrun them all and find the virus?

Content: I was going to say “no sex”, but actually there is some, more for information than excitement. But no nudity. A whole lot of set pieces as Sienna, the doctor, and Robert Langdon visit numerous historic buildings in Florence, and then numerous historic buildings in Venice and then some in Istanbul. Robert Langdon uses his knowledge to evade the pursuers, but he has amnesia, so they only gradually find out what he had been up to, and possibly why they are being chased. There is a scene in the Basilica Cistern in Instanbul – surely the same one visited by James Bond in “From Russia With Love”.

A View: This was disliked by the critics, but still made money, maybe because readers like Dan Brown, even though his books are constantly panned as well. It is the same old stuff really, Tom Hanks dashing about looking for clues amongst the Dante statuary in this case in Florence and Venice this time with a young British doctor, against the clock. Some of it is quite stylish, and if nothing else I recommend the scene in the Istanbul cistern. So maybe you could allow it to play while doing something else. Even if you pay close attention you will still not understand what is going on.

Additional Info: It was only after the closing credits that I wondered why Robert Langdon was there at all. I must have missed something – or everything.