In Langdon’s third movie adventure, again directed by Ron Howard and again adapted from a Dan Brown best-seller, a virus generated by a crazed billionaire (Ben Foster) threatens to wipe out half the world’s population – unless Langdon can solve a series of clues that will lead him to its hiding place. The problem is, Langdon’s just woken up in a Florentine hospital with a head injury and no idea how he got there. Fortunately for him, the doctor who wakes him up, Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), also happens to be an expert in the works of Dante Alighieri… The plot’s all claptrap, of course, but Hanks is once again a personable lead, and Jones makes admirably light work of reciting David Koepp’s verbose adapted dialogue. In fact, Inferno’s a great showcase for Jones’ abilities as an actress; turning in an Oscar-nominated performance for something worthy like The Theory Of Everything is all very well; actually making such an unlikely character as Sienna – a doctor, Dante obsessive and former childhood code-breaking prodigy – seem so three-dimensional is quite an achievement. Hanks benefits from having an actress as effervescent as Jones to share the screen with, too, and it’s worth noting just how her performance livens things up. In the rare scenes where Hanks performs without her, the film’s temperature plummets. Like previous Brown films, Inferno’s akin to Hitchcock’s North By Northwest crossed with a Tintin book; there are picturesque locations, hidden clues and mysterious characters with inscrutable agendas. Some of those mysterious characters are quite good value: Ben Foster’s on solid form as the rich maniac who decides to decimate humanity in the hope of saving the planet from over-population. Irrfan Khan is wryly amusing as the head of a shadowy organisation keeping tabs on Langdon’s progress. Others fare slightly less well; Omar Sy and Sidse Babett Knudsen, both members of the World Health Organisation, seem conspicuously wooden when viewed against Hanks and Jones’ sparky turns. Even after three films, the jury’s still out on whether Hanks makes Langdon much more than just a knowledgeable cypher; even now, the hero’s defining characteristic is that he wears a Mickey Mouse watch. Inferno also raises some interesting questions about the sustainability of the world’s rising population – just as TV’s Utopia did a couple of years ago – but then proceeds to do little of interest with it. Then again, Inferno isn’t intended as a Trojan horse for real-world concerns or even a chilling disease thriller in the vein of Outbreak or Contagion. It’s a pulp yarn designed to entertain in the moment rather than stick in the mind, and assuming you don’t think too much about some of the more glaring holes in its story, Inferno provides a divertingly intense evening’s entertainment.