Now that they’ve left, I’ve gotten time back to do my reviews. Today, I’ve got an interesting movie in the spotlight, with a tie-in to one of 2010's most underrated games. Without any more (familial) delays, here’s my review for Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic.
Released on the same day as the game (February 9, 2010), Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic is more or less about Dante and his efforts to recover his beloved Beatrice from Lucifer. For those who haven’t played the game, Dante used to be a bad guy. Actually, douchebag would be a better term to use. Before his descent into the 9 circles of Hell, Dante was quite a wicked individual, as it is revealed to the viewer that he committed each of the 9 sins that compose Hell. So, in addition to saving his love, Dante has also dived into Hell in order to redeem himself of the evil within. It’s a classic tale, re-envisioned for a modern audience with modern tastes.
The first positive of this film is an interesting one. Like the classic The Animatrix and the more recent Batman: Gotham Knight, Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic was animated by some of Japan’s top animators. Two of the more recognizable animators that worked on this film, Shuko Murase and Yasoumi Umetsu, previously worked on some iconic shows (Murase did Ergo Proxy, while Umetsu worked Kite: Liberator). Their way of animated things is clearly seen in their portions of the film, as they have the smooth, gothic, and bleak overtones that they are known for.
Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic’s second positive is how it interprets the original poem. Just like the game, the movie is essential a retelling of the author’s journey through the nine circles that compose Hell. Like the game, Dante is a soldier from the crusades, who carries the weight of all 9 sins on his shoulders. The circles within Hell are also re-imagined, as they more closely resemble the sins they contain (lots of curves & sexual imagery within the Circle of Lust, for example). Also like the poem & game, this movie has many of the characters involved as well (Virgil, Dante’s Father, etc), keeping the ties between each medium.
Voice acting is this film’s third positive. Just like the game, this film contains the same voice actors, and both mediums don’t disappoint. Graham McTavish continues to give his voice to the brave yet dangerous Dante, as well as Peter Jessop providing Virgil with the haunting & wise tones that the role requires. Other voices actors (whether they were in the game or not) also provide some great talent, as two of the biggest roles in the movie (Dante’s Father & Lucifer) are voice by two of the biggest talents in the industry (Stephen Blum & Mark Hamill).
The fourth positive of this film is that it is pure, unadulterated action. True, this feature does have some dramatic moments, but what makes this film is the nearly non-stop flow of violence, bloodshed, gore, and naked women. The only other film I reviewed that had all of these wonderful things was SiN the Movie, but we don’t like to talk about. In addition to the obvious differences, the violence within Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic is much more visceral, as body are getting torn apart by sword, scythes, and all other manner of medieval fighting, while SiN’s violence feels more like that of a B-rated horror movie.
The final two positives of Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic are it’s availability and pricing. Having just come out a little over two years ago, the film is still easy to find in a lot of video stores, as well as Amazon. Holding just as many used copies (41, to be exact) as they do new copies, this film starts out at 2 dollars new, and $1.60 used. Either condition won’t really make a big impact on your wallet, so go ahead and buy whichever one of want!
Like any tie-in, however, Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic has a couple things wrong with it. Luckily, only three bad things stand out from all the others. For starters, it doesn’t quite follow the game, which doesn’t quite follow the poem. To complicate things further, there’s story points that happen in the movie (like Dante discovering in Limbo that Beatrice had a child, but it died when it came out), but don’t happen in the game. There’s a lot more that happen/don’t happen between the two, but to put them all down would take up more time than there has been already taken.
Secondly, despite the fact that this film is pretty fun to watch, it all feels like a long advertisement. Makes perfect sense, considering that the game came out on the same day as the movie’s. This makes perfect sense, as the movie does a great job (least I think so) of getting people hooked onto one medium, and possibly tempting them to buy the other
Finally, there isn’t much in the way of extras. This is something that I haven’t discussed in my reviews in a while, so you know it’s big. This film...has only two extras: a trailer for the game (which I saw long before the movie or the game), and some animatics (which are actually kind cool). I just wished they added in a interview or two with some of the directors, but as it stands, there’s only bare bones for extras.
Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic gets a 7.2 out of 10. It was animated by a variety of talent, it has a unique interpretation of the source material, the voice acting also has talent behind it, the action is nonstop, and it easy to find & buy, but it doesn’t completely follow the game, feels a lot like a commercial, and barely has any extras.
See you all later this week. Until then, stay Otaku!
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