Inferno 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Inferno 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 20, 2017

Inferno is the third film based on a Dan Brown book starring Tom Hanks as the iconic Robert Langdon and directed by the equally iconic Ron Howard, following The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. Inferno serves up much of the same in terms of approach and character construction and utilization, but it's also the darkest film in the series, tonally and thematically alike, pitting a weakened Langdon against his most difficult adversary and with the fate of the globe hanging in the balance. Beyond a few twists and turns and Langdon's knowledge as his most prominent weapon, it's a rather routine Thriller that works a bit better than average thanks to the source's quick speed and tale of interest, Langdon's superb development and Hank's performance, and Howard's firm grasp on what makes the series tick, both visually and structurally alike (despite the series' transition from film to digital). It's arguably the strongest film in the series, perhaps not the most fluent in terms of demonstrating Langdon's intellectual prowess (though admittedly by design) but certainly in terms of story's depth and Howard's craftsmanship.

Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) awakens in a Florence hospital, disoriented and unable to recall how he came to be in Italy or why he's in the hospital. His long-term memory is also failing him. His attending physician, Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), who has been a fan of his work since she was a child, tends to his injuries, which include a grazing bullet wound to the head. Before Langdon can get his bearings or recover from the pain, someone attempts an assassination. He and Sienna go on the run and return to her place. Langdon finds himself in mysterious possession of a miniaturized, makeshift projector that presents a slightly altered recreation of Dante's Inferno. Sienna, herself an amateur student of symbology, and a mentally weakened Langdon begin to piece together a series of clues that lead them to believe that a billionaire named Bertrand Zobrist (Ben Foster), who preaches the dangers of overpopulation, has hatched a plan to wipe out the majority of the human race. Now, they must race against the clock to prevent armageddon on a global scale.

Mass murder versus extinction. The fundamental notions of right and wrong. What constitutes good and evil. And above all else, what is true and what is a lie? A complex web of social and environmental concern, mass murder, mass salvation, darkness, light, forgetfulness, fate, twists, and turns await the audience and Robert Langdon in this latest adventure. That's par for the course for Dan Brown's and Ron Howard's Langdon tales. Inferno is easily the darkest entry in the series, exploring the very notion of hell, one man's interpretation of it, and another man's vision of mankind's self-destruction into it. The film is much more apt to embrace darkness, distress, and uncertainty than its predecessors. It features a mentally weakened Robert Langdon, effectively taking away his greatest assets: his sharp mind, his quick thinking, his command of his intelligence and, more important, ability to put it all together and put it to use to battle evil and unearth the truth. In Inferno, the audience finds Robert Langdon at his most vulnerable, physically wounded and mentally off his game. It's a terrific little twist for the series and raises the stakes by a considerable margin, particularly considering the backdrop of a plot that pits the hero against a villain with a desire to wipe out the vast majority of human beings on the planet. All for the good of the species, of course.

Inferno's villain is straight out of James Bond. He's super-rich, has a way with words, and has cooked up a dastardly scheme to solve a problem with a solution that he's identified as necessary and good but that the rest of the world would see as fundamentally evil. He's a classic villain with a warped sensibility and sense of self, too, yearning preservation of the species by essentially killing it off. Standing in his way is Robert Langdon, an educated man more comfortable reading a relic than wielding a gun. Whats always been cool about Robert Langdon is that he's basically Bond and Bourne but with a sharper intellect who uses his smarts, not his fists or a gun, as his main weapon. He's capable enough to hold his own when he's pulled down into the physical fray, but he's sort of like Indiana Jones without the slick moves and physical prowess. And with his best asset removed, at least for part of the film, Inferno's stakes are only raised that much higher as the diabolical villain faces off against the weakened hero. The movie doesn't necessarily take full advantage of that contrast. Its big twist isn't hard to predict and its final outcome never seems in much doubt, but it's a relatively fun ride that shakes up the formula while still remaining true to the core. Here's hoping the Brown-Howard-Hanks collaboration has another movie in it; they seem to be getting a bit better with each entry, a rarity to be sure Hollywood.

Inferno 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

This one's pretty clear-cut. Take everything that made Sony's 1080p Blu-ray release of Inferno an excellent one and make it all a bit better. The studio's 2160p/HDR-enhanced UHD presentation is terrific, and even as the digital source was reportedly finished at 2K (a downscale of the source photography) and subsequently upscaled back up to 4K for this release, the improvements over the Blu-ray are clear, not radical, but certainly appreciable and appreciated. First, the HDR colors are a simple refinement. There's more depth and nuance evident across the board -- skin tones, clothing, the earthy architecture around Florence and Venice -- but never does the HDR process significantly alter the film's natural look. It's an excellent use of the tool. Details are finer. Skin textures are more even, more naturally revealing, besting even an already outstanding Blu-ray in that department. Environments, too, show a nice boost in complexity. Black levels are strong, if not a hair more pale here. This seems like a classic UHD: an improvement in every way, more than subtle and less than spectacular. Fans will find it worth the extra cost of admission.

Inferno 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Unlike the standard-issue 1080p Blu-ray, which features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack, Sony's more premium UHD release contains a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. The improvements are obvious and make for a much better and far more engaging listen. While the 5.1 track is certainly effective and of a very high quality in its own right, the Atmos track brings much more nuance and engagement that makes it both refined and distinct from its counterpart. Overhead engagement is obviously the big draw here, and the track doesn't disappoint. Though the top level is obviously not engaged in every moment, a couple of scenes that make use of it do stand out. Only minutes into the film, Langdon experiences one of his hellacious hallucinations. One of the effects is an arc of eerie sound that moves like a forming rainbow from right to left and simultaneously above the listener. It's a great effect and one of the best yet from an Atmos track. The drone that appears around the 38-minute mark has some terrific top-layer zip and hover, and movement is much more precise in the Atmos track. But the added back-middle channels are also helpful in creating a much richer, fuller listen, allowing for more precise movement, larger space, and positional accuracy in music, environments, and sound effects alike. Music, gunfire, and various atmospherics are more alive and detailed here, too. Dialogue is excellent, grounded in the center and very well prioritized in every moment. This is a terrific track in every area of concern.

Inferno 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Inferno contains deleted and extended scenes and several featurettes on the included Blu-ray disc, and are reviewed below. The UHD disc contains only the usual Sony format extras: cast and crew stills and a series of Moments (2160p, HDR, Atmos): Robert Langdon (21:16), Sienna Brooks (15:32), Zobrist's Plan (13:23), and Puzzles (14:47). A UV digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Extended & Deleted Scenes (1080p, 27:19 total runtime): Extended Opening - Langdon's Visions of Hell, Langdon and Sienna Flee the Hospital, Zobrist's Full Length Overpopulation Speech, No Police, Chase Through Boboli Gardens, Sims Races to Florence, and Extended Ending - Life Pulls Us Apart Again.
• Visions of Hell (1080p, 5:35): Cast and crew, along with Dan Brown, discuss the story's darker and more chilling narrative and themes, including a discussion of Dante, whose stories and imagery play central to the film.
• Inferno Around the World (1080p, 13:34): A closer look at the film's casting and the cast's international and diverse flavor.
• A Look at Langdon (1080p, 6:21): A closer examination of Robert Langdon throughout the Dan Brown trilogy of films.
• This Is Sienna Brooks (1080p, 5:48): This piece explores the film's female lead in more detail.
• The Billionaire Villain: Bertrand Zobrist (1080p, 5:13): Insight into the film's antagonist.
• Ron Howard, a Director's Journal (1080p, 10:02): Howard discusses his embrace of social media, shooting locations, crafting various scenes, working with the cast, and more.
• Previews (1080p): Additional Sony titles.

Inferno 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Inferno doesn't quite capture the very real urgency of its plot, nor does it connect any dots to any real-world conspiracies in any meaningful, eye-opening ways, but it does do what the series does best: use basic knowledge to expand on itself and open up new ideas and interpretations of established truisms and understandings of the way things work. There are a couple of decent, though fairly transparent, plot twists, and Langdon's mental disarmament for parts of the film is a great device. The film moves well and sits as the best of what is currently the three Robert Langdon films, with, hopefully, at least one more to come. Sony's UHD release of Inferno offers an honest, but not substantial, increase in clarity and color over the Blu-ray. The Atmos sound is a much more pronounced upgrade. Extras are fine, though the UHD adds nothing of significance. Recommended, and UHD owners should definitely splurge for this over the regular Blu-ray. It's a good one.