'Inferno' Movie Review: Tom Hanks's Latest Is Neither Compelling nor Believable

— -- Starring Tom Hanks, Ben Foster and Felicity JonesRated PG-13Two out of five stars

In Tom Hanks’ and Ron Howard’s third film based on Dan Brown’s popular series of novels about symbology and iconography expert Robert Langdon (Hanks), Langdon is charged with deciphering a puzzle left behind by an eccentric billionaire named Bertrand Zobrist, who was obsessed with the 14th century Italian poet Dante, whose "Inferno" is part of his master work "Divine Comedy."

Zobrist (Ben Foster) would like to cut the world’s population in half –- for what he believes is the greater good because it’s only a matter of time before the planet is overrun and destroyed by overpopulation. Langdon must solve Zobrist’s puzzle while dealing with amnesia, thanks to a gunshot wound to the head and other malfeasance.

In hot pursuit of Langdon is the World Health Organization and a few nefarious characters whose identities become clear as the movie unfolds.

Langdon is aided by Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), the brilliant doctor who treated Langdon when he arrived, wounded, at the hospital. The mystery takes Landon and Brooks through a scenic tour of Florence, Venice and Istanbul in an effort to decipher a riddle involving Sandro Botticelli’s La Mappa Dell’inferno, or Map of Hell.

Watching Tom Hanks do anything should never be awkward. Unfortunately, in his third go ‘round as Langdon, Hanks comes off like a shirtless middle-aged man at a Taylor Swift concert. He’s just out of place. While the film is lovely to look at, it’s mostly an empty experience. "Inferno," while trying to be authentic through its use of beautiful, historic locales, exists in some sort of authenticity vacuum.

Despite the terrific cast, and even with two of our best storytellers in Hanks and Ron Howard, nothing in "Inferno" is believable or compelling enough to make us care about it.