Release Date: October 28, 2016 A sequel should justify itself on the basis of its existence alone: when The Godfather Part II was unveiled to audiences back in 1974, everyone sat down to the movie and said: "Of course - these pictures are inseparable from one another. They're part of the same whole." And it's true: you now can't view The Godfather without its essential follow-up. The filmic versions of The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons (based on the novels by Dan Brown) doesn't share that trait. Starring Tom Hanks as Professor of Solving Cryptic Puzzles Robert Langdon, in what has to be the least interesting role of his career (this is the franchise he decides to reprise his roles for?), Ron Howard's "blockbusters" emerged as slow, confusing and blandly-drawn films that failed to stick in the memory banks. Which means that nobody has thought about Robert Langdon since, like, 2009, when Angels & Demons landed in theatres, was met with a landslide of negative reviews, and still managed to pull in $485 million dollars. Go figure. Now comes Inferno, the third Ron Howard adaptation of a Dan Brown book, and it seems safe to assume that this effort will be dud just like the last two. Especially going on the fact that Inferno was a rather terrible slice of fiction in itself. The moment has passed, Ron Howard: let Tom Hanks spend his time on more valuable projects. Big 2, anyone?
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
