海角大神

鈥淚nferno鈥� is the third in a 鈥� dare I make it sound important? 鈥� trilogy of聽movies derived from Dan Brown鈥檚 beach-read bestsellers. Like those other聽two lumbering Brown adaptations, 鈥淭he Da Vinci Code鈥� and 鈥淎ngels &聽Demons,鈥� 鈥淚nferno鈥� stars Tom Hanks as art historian and cryptologist聽Robert Langdon, who is supposed to be brainy but more often seems聽addled.聽

In 鈥淚nferno,鈥� he at least has an excuse, since he is first seen recovering聽in a hospital bed from a bad head wound. The attending physician is聽played by a nervously prim Felicity Jones, who seems anything but聽addled, and the hospital turns out to be in Florence, Italy 鈥� Dante Alighieri鈥檚 old聽stomping grounds. This location is crucial because the film, directed with聽slam-bang clunkiness by Ron Howard, plays out a series of Dante-inspired聽clues leading to the discovery of a plague virus designed by a loony billionaire聽biologist (Ben Foster) to cure overpopulation by wiping out half the planet. He鈥檚 a pretty good Bond villain, but Langdon is no 007.聽聽

Venice, Italy and Istanbul fill out the film鈥檚 tour-guide tableaux. A number of聽energetic actors, including Omar Sy as a shady agent and the always welcome Irrfan Khan as a security firm聽honcho, duck in and out of harm鈥檚 way. It all amounts to not very much,聽but then again, not very much was expected. Still, given that its plot is聽powered by abstruse academic clues, you would think that 鈥淚nferno鈥澛爓ould at least add up to something a little less dumb. But unless you are a聽Dante scholar, and perhaps not even then, following 鈥淚nferno鈥� is a wild聽goose chase 鈥� without the goose.聽Grade: C (Rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence, disturbing images, some language, thematic elements and brief sensuality.)