Inferno

With each successive entry, the film series based on the Robert Langdon novels of Dan Brown becomes less and less watchable. At this rate the fourth movie may actually make audience bleed out of their eyes. Opening with an incomprehensible first 10 minutes filled with hellish images floating through an injured Langdon's (Tom Hanks) mind, the film attempts to up the ante by forcing the professor not only to solve riddles and clues to find the truth but this time to do so with amnesia. Along for the ride is his latest attractive European brunette co-star, this time a genius doctor (Felicity Jones) with a love of puzzles (of course) who helps Langdon escape a hospital in Florence when the men who kidnapped him attempt to reacquire the college professor to find a deadly virus.

Rather than unraveling the mysteries of the Holy Grail or delving into a Papal conspiracy, this time Langdon is set after a man-made plague known as Inferno. Created by a billionaire (Ben Foster) obsessed with purging the world of its excess populace, the madman of course left near-indecipherable clues that would make it nearly impossible to see his plan carried out.

Inferno goes through the same motions as the first two films with Langdon finding clues in historic artifacts (which don't work nearly as well when hunting a virus cooked up in a modern-day laboratory rather than an ancient mystery). This time the clues all point back to Dante, whose most famous work gives the film and virus their name. Along the way we get several locales, and multiple people hunting for Langdon and the doctor (all of whom are working at cross purposes muddling the plot even further). Oh, and don't forget twists. The latest entry into the series has a big one that isn't so much surprising as downright dumb (but, hey, that goes with the theme of the rest of the movie). The only thing you'll discover in Inferno is how much you want this series to die.