Inferno (DVD) : Review

Film

From the people who brought us The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, comes Inferno. Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks – Sully, Saving Mr. Banks) wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia. Through a few rather abrupt events, he ends up teamed with Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones – Rogue One, The Theory of Everything). Together, they end up on a race across Europe, as time runs out for them to foil a terrible plot, with catastrophic, global consequences.

Based on the novel, of the same name, by Dan Brown, Inferno is another complex story in the same vein as The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, yet as with each subsequent story, there is something missing, something not quite tangible, but one knows it should be there. The story feels a little flat. Not horrendously so, but not as tense and mysterious as The Davinci Code, and not as thrilling as one would expect.

Cinematography and direction are great, as is the cast, but there are just a few too many threads to tie together, leaving the ending of the film a little less than what it could be.

With such a talented cast, and intricate story, the rewatch value of Inferno is rather high. A complex plot, where one will find more insight and fact missed on an initial viewing. While the bigger plot twists might be known on subsequent viewings, there is still much to leave one guessing.

With the previous films having rave reviews, Inferno has an audience of fans already waiting. Hopefully they are not too let down by this outing. Yet still, Inferno is still a cut above many others.

Disc

Overall, the disc is of a good quality, with a decent helping of bonus material, which is of a pretty decent quality and length.

Inferno is available now, to purchase on disc, in South Africa.

Video

Video is encoded at a high average bitrate. There are no visible artefacts on screen, nor any colour bleed. Colour are vibrant in bright scenes, and details is good in darker scenes, with deep blacks.

Viewers with the necessary hardware or software can scale up to a larger or higher resolution screen, should they wish.

Audio

Audio is encoded at a high average bitrate, and presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. Dialogue is clear via the centre speaker, with the other channels providing crisp sound. Use of the surrounds serves to expand the on-screen world, and further draw the viewer into the story.

Navigation

Navigation is simple, and easy to use. The main menu is a static screen, with a text menu system providing options to play the main feature, select languages, scene selection and special features.

The languages sub-menu provides options to select audio and subtitle choices.

Scene selection consists of sub-menus with four colour, still thumbnails per page. While these are numbered, there is no chapter title, meaning that some guesswork is involved when trying to navigate to a specific part of the main feature.

The special features sub-menu is a text menu, allowing for easy selection of the desired featurette.

Bonus Features

Extended & Deleted Scenes – A collection of seven scenes deleted from the film, or longer versions of some scenes in the film. There is a choice to select them individually, or to play all.

Visions of Hell – A closer look at one of the opening scenes of the film, and how this was created using makeup and visual effects. It also includes some insight to the reasoning behind the scene, its inspiration, and how this fits into the story, as a whole. This should be of interest to both filmmakers and casual viewers alike.

Inferno Around the World – When a film is based upon a book, that covers many amazing and diverse locations, it adds a great depth to be able to film at those actual locations. This feature takes us to the various locals used in the film, showing the diverse looks and styles of those places, as well as a bit of insight to areas that needed to be built in a studio, due to any number of reasons why it would not be practical to shoot there.

A Look At Langdon – A look not just as the character of Robert Langdon, but also at actor Tom Hanks, as told by other cast and crew. While this featurette is titled for the main character, it does not only cover Langdon, but many of the other characters too, while always looking back as to how each character would relate or interact with him. With so much known by viewers about this character from the novels and previous films, great care needs to be taken in keeping to what would embody Robert Langdon, while still adding to his story in this new installment. An insightful look at characterisation, and the art of becoming a character on screen.

This Is Sienna Brooks – The tough female character aiding Robert Langdon. We get to find out more about Sienna Brooks and actress Felicity Jones. Much like the featurette on Langdon, this one covers the character, with input from cast and crew. Again there are links drawn between Brooks and the other characters in the story.

Ron Howard, A Director’s Journal – A brief look at how director Ron Howard documents his time on location, while filming. This short featurette details how he posts to his various social media accounts, sharing small bits of the journey, a few insights, and of course, some photos from set.

Previews – A link to allows the viewer to access the trailers that auto-play at the beginning of the disc.

There are trailers for Ghostbusters and Money Monster that auto-play at the beginning of the disc. While these can not be skipped individually, they can be fast-forwarded, and skipped entirely.

 

 

By Andrew Germishuys

Founder of SAMDB | Actor | Armourer | Tech Enthusiast With over two decades in the film industry, I'm a seasoned actor and skilled armourer. I hold numerous certifications in acting and filmmaking, complemented by degrees and diplomas in IT and technology, giving me a unique blend of creative and technical expertise. When I'm not on set or in the workshop, you'll find me immersed in the world of gaming and VR, fuelling my passion for cutting-edge technology. Connect with me: X / Twitter Facebook Instagram Mastodon Threads Explore my work on SAMDB IMDb