I’m not saying Nicolas Cage could have rescued this film. Far from it.

I’m just saying he might have given us some moments to grin at.

This one is just a yawn.

Should you try it out? I infer: no.

Tom Hanks, Irrfan Khan-starrer is an adaptation of Dan Brown’s torturous novel. The only improvement it has on the book is that it ends in two hours.

It took substantial self-control to resist making fire jokes, but it’s now or never, so here goes. Inferno, despite the best efforts of an always-dependable Tom Hanks, burns up in a raging fireball. Sorry.

Inferno is a must for fans of Hanks. But watch it also for Irrfan. Steady as a rock, he doesn’t put a foot wrong despite being in a predictable film that doesn’t get everything right.

It drags in portions, especially when it comes to Langdon’s personal life. Also it’s flooded with standard clichés that imply the professor being ‘humanity’s last hope’ etc. However, despite a few flaws, Ron Howard’s film is a competent adaptation and offers mild cerebral entertainment that manages to engage you. Go join the hunt.

Dan Brown fan or not, you’re bound to feel a little disappointed, because Irrfan (accent aside) is brilliant (that confidence and will-do attitude we saw in Jurassic Park, comes unhinged in this one) at what he does and this movie, on the whole kind, doesn’t do him justice. And let’s not hide it, you bought a ticket to this one, because of the Tom Hanks-Ron Howard-Dan Brown combo. You only wish, the movie lived up to all your expectations and not just a few.

At the end of the day, everything in Inferno is just about passable. Watch the film if you really want to.

Inferno doesn’t have that edge-of-the-seat quality that was necessary for an end of the world scenario film. The plot twist, when it comes, is totally predictable and the climax too isn’t gripping enough. Both Hanks and Howard clearly need a break from the series now…

Frankly speaking, one would have to be an amnesiac to rate this film even as a thoughtful thriller!

The one thing Inferno has going for itself is the way it is shot by Howard regular Salvatore Totino – in fact the only exciting thing about this whole film is the anticipation for the look of next year’s Spiderman Homecoming which is also shot by Totino.

Overall, when at the very end, you hear “If you loved humanity or this planet, you’d do anything to solve it”, you feel let down with all the hype of the Inferno.

The film leaves you with many ‘ifs & buts’. If only the story and screenplay were richer. If only the characters were more three-dimensional. If only the last two films hadn’t set such a high standard. But that was not to be.

Overall, when at the very end, you hear “If you loved humanity or this planet, you’d do anything to solve it”, you feel let down with all the hype of the Inferno.

In the end, the live action films are just like the books they were adapted from: quick fixes to ennui . So watch it and forget it, because it’s not memorable. But Inferno is worth one viewing.

The film is worth one watch in the cinema if you are a Brown or Hanks fan. But not if you are looking for something that better challenges your intellect.

…barring an intriguing opening and a few nicely executed scenes in Italy, Inferno is a strained attempt to capitalise on Robert Langdon’s popularity and a far cry from the fast-paced and edge-of-the-seat stuff we have come to expect from the Brown-Howard-Hanks combine.

For a thriller, it doesn’t really offer much of a thrill. It’s a perfunctory follow up to a formula that saw success 10 years ago but maybe it’s time to toss the baby out with the bath water.