Dante’s Inferno Movie Review–Forget The Divine Comedy

On February 2nd, 2010

dante's infernoSometimes I get to see a movie that makes absolutely no sense at all.  And it’s even better when I find out it’s the movie adaptation of a game.  Thus, from Anchor Bay and EA Games comes Dante’s Inferno, or the most ridiculously bloodsoaked adaptation of classic literature that has almost nothing to do with the book it was based on EVER.

The book called for Dante to roam hell and discover what all was down there.

The movie calls for Dante to search for his missing beloved fiancee and kill everything in hell, though how exactly you kill the dead is utterly beyond me.  Where do the damned go when they die, anyway?  Superhell?

Anyway, from what I can gather, this is supposed to be an approximation of the video game, coming soon from EA.  Needless to say, it bears about as much resemblance to the book as the book resembles a small hamster.

There is plenty of action here, no mistake–and the movie sprints forward like a track star on crystal meth.  And the art style will change every few minutes, just in case you were getting a little too used to any one particular style.  And though things are a little bombastic and confused here, the end results will still be a wild and gory romp through what may be one of the most horrifying pieces of literature ever.

The Screenhead Ten Scale looks at this strange little combination of entertainment and completely disrespect for literature and hands it a six out of ten.  It’s better than a lot of other stuff out there, but at the end of it all, still stands as an insult to the original.  Somewhere, Dante Aligheri is spinning in his grave.

13 COMMENTS & TRACKBACKS

  1. Roger Thorn
    February 2nd, 2010 at 2:24 pm

    Sounds like the movie itself is fun. Who cares how faithful it is to the 800 year old poem?

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  2. Steve Anderson
    February 2nd, 2010 at 10:35 pm

    Roger–the movie IS fun, in its way, but I just don’t understand why they even bothered to drag Dante into this at all. They could’ve just called it “Hellstormers” or something like that. Kinda sullies classic literature to see it abused like this, you know?

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  3. Pingback: XIII Game To Become Movie On DVD - Movies, Reviews and More.

  4. Lucy
    February 7th, 2010 at 4:26 pm

    Hi Steve,

    Hi Steve,

    This is by far the best review I have red about the EA animation, who did not only stole the game, animation and documentary idea from Boris Acosta, a real visionary producer, but also are trying to steal money from people making them believe that they made an epic film/game/etc.

    You may want to check the link of the website I’m sending you. Let me know if you want to review the real epic animation now on sale at Amazon, after you watch the trailer and get a good idea about it.

    I salute you!

    Lucy

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  5. Sam
    February 26th, 2010 at 12:41 pm

    best goddamn review ever XD you freaking killed me with this very sensible question “Where do the damned go when they die, anyway? Superhell?”

    two thumbs up

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  6. Eric
    March 7th, 2010 at 2:10 pm

    Tsk tsk, by far this is a terrible review of the movie. I agree with perhaps one thing….”adaptation of the game”. You are correct about this my friend. The creators of Dante’s Inferno were not trying to captivate audiences by recreating a poem several centuries ago. The creators of the movie and the game were simply taking ideas from the original literary work and creating a compelling modern interpretation. The outcome is a visionary classic tale of good vs. evil with a twist; the twist being our characters struggle with the forces of evil and his own inner demons.

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  7. george
    March 17th, 2010 at 12:09 pm

    hey i was searching for the other dantes inferno animated,
    the real history of the book.
    but it seems that everyone confuse the animated epic with dantes inferno animated.
    o shit its confuse

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  8. K
    April 13th, 2010 at 4:28 pm

    Well it is obviously not going to be close to the poem because the poem written by Dante was called “Decent into Hell” and compared to the video game is similar but not exact. The movie is just a EA movie, you’re right, but it’s not too too bad. The game is excellent but obviously neither have any comparison to the poem.

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  9. eddie
    April 26th, 2010 at 6:20 am

    Ok for one what you were reviewing was a game not a movie and two quit getting all worked up over nothing its just a fucking game for christ sake who gives a shit if it follows the story or not?! They make these things obviously for fun and that whole thing about super hell was not even close to being amusing. You see the dead in video games and even movies all the time being killed so it really doesnt have to make any sense at all.

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  10. Joe Blow
    May 1st, 2010 at 2:58 am

    WHO’s getting workes up, eddie?

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  11. lol wut?
    May 31st, 2010 at 12:22 am

    Eddie to be honest people like me are bitching b/c when a game says based on a story especially the story of “Inferno” we expect Dante to go through spiritual enlightenment, as he does in the divine comedy. What do we get instead? We get a game which takes a beautifully written story and tentacle rapes it then burns it to the ground. Then afterwords takes a leak on it to put out the flame and that’s what we have here.

    Since when did Dante, a poet, kill death steal his scythe and try to save some big tittied bitch from hell? I don’t see this anywhere in the divine comedy.

    If you use the name Dante’s Inferno we should see something that is at least faithful to the book. Now if this game was a stand alone game that had nothing to do with Inferno then it wouldn’t be so bad, but they took the concept of the book and ruined it

    Similar to what the creator of the resident evil movies did, or the creator of the silent hill movie did. They soiled a great idea, but those movies could have been way better if they weren’t resident evil/silent hill but stand alone movies.

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  12. Kratos's dog fido
    November 29th, 2010 at 8:25 pm

    Would like to know how many times the name Beatrice was said throughout the whole movie……….
    Would like to see a video of all the times he said Beatrice all strung together………..

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  13. grandnoble
    February 7th, 2011 at 3:00 pm

    I’ve played Dante’s Inferno, it’s a MARVELOUS game. I’ve also read The Divine Comedy. So I’m aware it’s not an exact remake. However, to say it’s a “completely disrespect for literature” you must be an idiot. Would you really want to play a game where you walk around and talk to people? Fantastic. That game would get 1 purchase then. Obviously, it’s not the same as the book. But you’re comments are ridiculous. The Divine Comedy is a CLASSIC book, and Dante’s Inferno is a GREAT (wait for it) ADAPTATION. Keyword… a-dap-ta-tion.

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