For those who haven't been following our extensive coverage of Dante's Inferno, this film is directly based on EA and Visceral Games' treatment of Dante Alighieri's timeless epic poem. It's a bold reimagining of the tale that does not hesitate to take liberties with the source material. It's simple to the core, which is part of what makes this film fall flat. While the thematic vision is clear and breathtaking, the storytelling struggles a bit. Here's the long and short of it: Dante is a Crusader fighting for King Richard. He comes home to Florence to find his father and beloved Beatrice slain. He witnesses the abduction of Beatrice's spirit by Lucifer himself, and promptly gives chase through the nine circles of Hell. As Dante journeys ever deeper into the abyss, he comes face to face with his most grievous sins, and eventually finds out why Lucifer has kidnapped Beatrice. It's primarily an action film, but there are several scenes in which Dante broods in the company of his guide Virgil.
One very odd thing about Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic is how it haphazardly retcons important events from the game. Immediately after finishing my first playthrough of Dante's Inferno, I watched the film. Some important moments in the game are either omitted or completely changed from what happens in the game. For instance, Dante does not fight Death in order to get Death's Scythe -- he gets it from some random demon. In another scene, Dante has the symbolic tapestry sewn to his chest against his will. It's not all bad; Beatrice gets a fair amount of screen time. The scene in which Lucifer demonstrates how he can kill her an infinite number of times in an infinite number of ways is pretty frightening. In addition, we finally get some insight to why Beatrice and Alighiero were killed.
Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic prides itself on having six directors and six interpretations. This is both a boon and a curse. While you'll get to see a few different artistic visions, some of them look a bit silly. In particular, I'm referring to how Dante looks towards the midpoint of the film. He looks like Kaim Argonar from Lost Odyssey. It's probably a disservice to Dante himself to illustrate him with long hair and an effeminate figure. Just saying.
As you can see at the top of this review page, Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic isn't exactly loaded with features. All you get is a trailer for the game and some animatics. They're interesting for about two minutes, but it would have been nice if they had included the behind-the-scenes look at the actual game (like the Divine Edition does).
I was fortunate enough to view both the DVD and Blu-ray versions of Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic. The Blu-ray version's Dolby 5.1 TrueHD setting is fantastic, but sometimes the sound effects overpower the score and dialogue. Usually it's balanced well, but it can get a little messy during the big action scenes. Naturally, the film looks sharper and cleaner on Blu-ray, though I found the differences to be minimal. My only problems with this movie's visual quality have to do with how some of the artistic visions clash. Still, this is a good-looking film, regardless of format.
Personally, I think Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic would have been better if it was along the same lines as Dead Space: Downfall. If the film had done more than make Dante fight monsters and scream a lot, it could have made him an easier character to understand and sympathize with. Don't get me wrong; the art is inventive, beautiful, and disturbing enough to make it worthy of Hell itself. There just isn't much of a movie here.
