Dante's Inferno

Victor Cook

BY Robert BellPublished Feb 9, 2010

Surely, scholars of Dante's Divine Comedy and esteemed literary theorists would find great amusement in this — a feature-length anime based on a videogame that is itself based perversely on Inferno, the first of the famed poem's three parts, wherein sin is recognized and rejected. There is a generalized knowledge of the original piece, with creatures such as Cerberus and Centaurs guarding the various circles of hell, acting as veritable "final bosses" in a videogame capacity. Mentions of Judas Iscariot and Alexander the Great amidst the bounty of dry exposition demonstrate partial faithfulness to the core material. But the thing is that this is all just filler while monsters with toothed vaginas and symbolic buttholes wage gory battle with the ever angst-ridden Dante, as he searches for his dear and virtuous Beatrice, a blonde with big tits doomed to marry Lucifer unless rescued in a timely fashion. Anyone familiar with EA and Starz's previous collaborative movie tie-in, Dead Space: Downfall, should be familiar with the style of animation and matter-of-fact handling of narration, knowing intuitively whether this is for them. It's strictly a male affair, given that the circle of lust features topless lesbians that shoot tentacles from their vaginas, which gruesomely stretch from butt hole to throat. If the film were more intelligent, one could take offence to the overt misogyny and question the creator's relationship with his mother during potty training, but it's honestly too ridiculous and unintentionally amusing to bother getting up in arms over. Absurdity aside, the pacing is quite impressive, with each boss battle careening freely into the next, never letting up for a moment, ensuring active engagement for those not rolling their eyes. Of particular interest is the feature supplement, a trailer for the upcoming videogame, which, visually, looks fantastic, brooding and dark. Also included are animatics of various sequences throughout the film.
(Anchor Bay)

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