Search - Dante's Inferno on DVD

Have read the book, have watched this film

Novel Enthusiast | Midwestern U.S. | 02/11/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have to say, with some amount of guilt in my voice that I really did enjoy this film. My expectations were pretty low to start, so maybe my surprise that the story had real content and had many elements of the book actually incorporated have lead to an overly positive review. That said, it was a pretty good movie in its own right. I would just like to also point out that this is a film that persons under sixteen probably should not be allowed to watch. The artists and writers for the film did a very good job portraying Hell.



I doubt that any person who reviews this film will have anything bad to say about its visuals which are indeed, fantastic. Each character in this story had a good deal of thought put into how his or her character was designed, and I think that it was this that was the main payoff of the film. All of the different creatures of the nine levels of Hell were great, many of them imagined in ways that I would never have considered. The levels of Hell, though imaginatively realized were however, quite similar to how they were described in the book and this could be considered either a bonus for purists or a con for those looking for a few more surprises.



The plot which is what I was really concerned would be lost in this film is actually, despite a large degree of artistic license, preserved fairly well so that perhaps a new group might become interested in Divine Comedy. That being said, while it may appear a gory action movie many of the subtle themes of redemption are still here and the film may perhaps require a second viewing to be fully understood as many of the more violent scenes overshadow the more dramatic for sheer memorability.



I am not usually one for anime, cartoons based on video games, video games or adult themed movies but this film gets my sign of approval."

A Slight Nod in Dante's Direction... [3.5 Stars]

T. Adlam | South Florida, USA | 03/01/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"There are a couple things you should know before deciding to view this movie: 1) Instead of "Dante's Inferno" a more fitting title would be "A Gentle Nod in the General Direction of Dante's Inferno"; and 2) It's explicit. And by "explicit" I mean there is brazen nudity, unapologetic violence with gushing blood, and man-eating genitalia (I kid you not).



If you're still with me, that means you're open to experiencing an interesting, gory, and twisted animated tale about a soldier on a quest through the nine circles of Hell to rescue the love of his life. Dante, having returned home from fighting God's war, finds everyone he knew--including his love Beatrice--slaughtered. He then watches her soul snatched into the jaws of Hell after she (apparently) made a deal with the Devil and lost (through no fault of her own). Thus begins the quest. Along the way, Dante meets his guide, Virgil, and learns the fate of (and is attacked by) all the sinners writhing in agony--absolving a few along the way.



Having read The Divine Comedy a couple of times (The Inferno about five), it was difficult getting past the *liberties* taken with the overall story, but I could see why they were taken--watching a frightened middle-aged poet sojourning through the underworld with an old ghost and chit-chatting with various dead people wouldn't be nearly as entertaining as a hot young warrior lopping off heads every few minutes and being chased by lustful women with carnivorous nether-regions.



The animation is beautiful and done well, Anime with Western influences, if a bit inconsistent since there were six directors with six different styles. My main complaint however comes with the pacing and dialog. Scenes went by too fast and barely allowed time for the character to absorb the words being spoken much less the viewer and the delivery of the dialog was too often overly dramatic--think William Shatner (circa original Star Trek) saying, "O Beatrice! Beloved Beatrice! I shall traverse the depths of Hell to rescue you. O my love, Beatrice!" That aside, the story flowed and, for the most part, made sense.



As for the DVD itself, the menu is a bit difficult to decipher, but not a deal-breaker. The bonus materials include sketches of various scenes from the movie--a nice touch for people who are interested in art or animation--and the trailer for the video game. (As an aside: I have to admit, the game looks awesome. I kind of wish the movie was made in the 3D style of the video game, but I'm not too upset about it.)"

Gory, Grotesque, Good, but NOT Great

anon_2003 | usa | 04/15/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Reasons to watch:

+ Awesome animation - from all the artists

+ Interesting storyline

+ Cool if you have surround sound



What will make you wince:

- Done by SIX directors/artists all with completely different styles.

- Difficult to distinguish characters after a director change

- Timing sucks

- It's not really Dante's Inferno, just based on the characters or story or something...



You Might like:

= Lots of gross, gory violence

= nudity

= unappealing language

= not for children"

When The Movie Started, my Wife and I Thought

Michael Bigger | Cold Spring Harbor, NY United States | 03/25/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"this is going to be a weird movie. We watched the movie over 2 nights and had the chance to do more research on Dante on Wikipedia in order to refresh our memories about him. What we found about him is absolutely fascinating. I suggest doing the same. Our research really helped us put this movie in its proper context. When my wife and I go to Tuscany, we are always amazed at how the churches' murals were used to manage the behavior of the people. The depiction of "Hell" served the same purpose.



We really enjoyed watching it and we learned alot. The visuals effects are great. We highly recommended it to the people interested in that kind of movies! Not for everyone though. Especially not for kids.



"