First things first: in order to get any enjoyment out of this film whatsoever, you have to divorce yourself from the film’s title. This is NOT Dante Alighieri’s DIVINE COMEDY. Not even fucking close. It is to THE DIVINE COMEDY as 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT TOU was to TAMING OF THE SHREW or THE 13TH WARRIOR was to BEOWULF. In fact if anyone truly captured the spirit of Electronic Arts adaptation of the classic work, it was the geniuses over at PENNY ARCADE who drew this brilliant comparison.
Once you can wrap your mind around what that film above (based upon the book by my great-great-great grand uncle) would look like, you get a pretty good idea of what this is. Based more upon their own video game adaptation than the original work, the film centers around our hero Dante, who returns from the crusades to find his love Beatrice dying and everyone else on his estate slaughtered. Almost immediately he discovers that the Devil himself has come for her and Dante decides to descend into hell itself to bring her back.
If you have issues with anime or video games, this film is decidedly NOT for you. Structure exactly like a video game, Dante meets Virgil who acts more as his Cortana than a guide, explaining each new level of hell to him and telling him what he has to do in order to get to the next level. This is followed by scenes of carnage as Dante kicks the crap out of the demons of hell, runs into old acquaintances and begins to learn about his own sins in life which he has either conveniently chosen to forget or hasn’t accepted as actually being sins (the film isn’t entirely clear.) Ironically, the story is more of an action packed version of the Orpheus tale (most famously set to verse by the aforementioned Virgil) than it is Dante’s tour through the three levels of the afterlife.
As a story the film is repetitive, boring and a exactly the kind of piecemeal assemblage that you expect out of video games, but this time without the controller and interactivity to allow a certain level of forgiveness. Everything done here from a storytelling perspective has been borrowed from other, better sources. Take the better parts of KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, TALES OF THE BLACK FREIGHTER and KILL BILL and then sprinkle in the occasional element from the DIVINE COMEDY and you get an idea of exactly how this feels – and can’t help but think of the comparisons while you’re watching it. There is nothing here in this film that isn’t done better somewhere else.
Fortunately for DANTE’S INFERNO the animation is at times incredible and their vision of hell often disturbing and fascinating to look at. This is moving art, with plenty of beautiful sequences that will appeal to fans of Christian Mythology and animation fans alike. All of the originality is in the look and feel, neither of which is reminiscent of a videogame. Take a look at this trailer for the game:
All of that is present in the film – every last bit of it, in fact. But none of it feels copied. It all feels very organic in the anime style it is made in – which of course changes every once in a while as different directors step in, as is becoming the custom on these projects. Wonderfully evocative and occasionally disturbing, it hits everything it is aiming at visually while hitting nothing it is aiming for emotionally. The perfect kind of film to throw on in the background during a party, but nothing to get very excited about sitting down to watch by yourself, DANTE’S INFERNO is a mixed bag with few surprises that may appeal to some, but nowhere near all.
