Inferno movie review: Irrfan Khan is the saving grace of this ride through hell

The fact that it stars accomplished actors like Tom Hanks and Felicity Jones makes the transgression even worse. Hanks’ talent for irony is wasted, Jones simply can’t decide what expressions go with the ill-written role. There is Irrfan Khan too, the only one among the cast who is having some fun and it is apparent. His Provost is in on the joke and makes the film tolerable. For the moments of levity he brings to Inferno, we can even forgive him The Amazing Spider-Man.

Watch | Tom Hanks, Irrfan Khan-starrer Inferno movie trailer

Now for the plot which has holes the size of potholes on Indian roads during monsoon. A psychopath billionaire has created a plague modelled on Black Death. Within two days it will kill half the world’s population and Hanks’ Robert Langdon is the only one who can stop it. The only trouble is he had retrograde amnesia and can’t even remember what you drink in the morning and is brown (Ting: Coffee). Never has the world’s chances of survival been so slim.

Helping him along is Jones’ brilliant doctor. On their tail is a secret organisation headed by Khan’s Provost. There is also World Health Organisation which is more badass CIA with drones and guns.

Also read | As Bollywood ignores him, Irrfan Khan gets praise internationally for Inferno

Caught in the middle is art and theology, Dante’s definition of hell and Botticelli. By the time the film ends, they would all be convoluted beyond recognition. But you wouldn’t care because you are busy praying that Dan Brown shouldn’t write yet another Robert Langdon-saves-the-world novels. It is time he and his Mickey Mouse watch take a long break in Cambridge.