“Inferno” is A Misfire: 8 Reasons to End The Da Vinci Code Franchise
Oct 20, 2016 • Mikhail Lecaros
4. It’s overly complicated and convoluted
3. It is mind-numbingly boring
One of the cardinal rules of film is, “show, don’t tell,” and the biggest problem with the Robert Langdon movies is the inordinate amount of time they spend explaining everything to the audience in barely-veiled lectures. For those who would cite difficulties in presenting history-based puzzle solving on the big screen (as opposed to the page), we would refer them to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade or heck, even Dan Brown knockoff National Treasure (the fun first one, not the godawful sequel) for tips on how to make such things entertaining. Nicolas Cage’s progressing insanity notwithstanding, when he said he was going to steal the Declaration of Independence, he didn’t need to deliver a dissertation on Benjamin Franklin to keep us interested.
2. Indiana Jones would have been a better choice (literally and figuratively)
Globe-trotting university professor well-versed in the ancient and arcane who spends the entire film outrunning and outsmarting the bad guys? Sound like any classic movie heroes we know? Look, we love Tom Hanks as much as the next guy, but seeing that Langdon was literally described in the books as “Harrison Ford in Harris Tweed”, we all know who Dan Brown would have preferred as his prodigious symbologist. While Ford probably would have turned it down in the same way he declined the lead role in Jurassic Park (you’ll never unsee it), we can’t help but picture our favorite archaeologist with a hat unlocking the secrets of Dante’s Inferno.
1. This probably won’t be the last one
Of course, any potential sequel will depend on how Inferno fares at the box office, but given that this franchise’s shine wore off a long time ago, one hopes that Inferno will be the last of this particular version of Robert Langdon. With one book (The Lost Symbol) yet to be adapted, and a prequel novel (Origin) on the way, it’s a safe bet that, whatever happens, we haven’t seen the last of this series.
Maybe next time, it’ll actually be interesting.
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