Genre: Adventure/Fantasy
Director: Tom Tykwer
Writer: Mo Buck
Based on The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
Cast: James Franco, Tom Hiddleston, Vincent D'Onofrio, Gary Oldman, Josh Brolin, Jaimie Alexander, Ron Perlman, Jared Harris, Ed Harris
Plot: On a dark night, Dante (James Franco) wakes up in the dark woods, with absolutely no idea how he got there. He stumbles in the dark, struggling to find his way in these unknown woods. He spots a small mountain that looks easily climbable. He rushes there, his sword in one hand. At the top of the small mountain, he's viciously attacked by a leopard, a lion and a wolf. On the verge of death, before his last breath, he's saved by a mysterious man, from out of nowhere. He presents himself as Virgil (Tom Hiddleston), a Roman poet who lived under Emperor Augustus. Dante mysteriously recovers from his injuries in an instant and starts following Virgil, as he instructed him. Virgil then says to Dante that they must travel to the underworld, after he heard it from a mysterious entity named Beatrice in one of his prayers. He reveals to Dante that he's dead and that he must earn his place in heaven, by crossing hell and the purgatory.
They travel in the dark woods for quite some time, resisting the assault of hordes of wolves once again. They finally reach a small cave and upon entering the cave, Virgil says "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" and the floor opens up beneath them and they start to fall. When it looks like they'll crash on the floor below them, their fall is graciously interrupted and they get on their feet, harmless. Dante asks Virgil where they are and he answers that they're in hell, more precisely the vestibule. After they passed the gate, they're attacked by floating souls of people with guilty conscience and swarms of wasps and hornets. They vigorously defend themselves and after walking about a mile or two in a pool of blood, they finally reach the ferry that will bring them to the first circle of hell. The pilot, Charon (Vincent D'Onofrio), refuses to let them on his ferry and they fight him until he has no other choice but no let pass. They take the ferry and cross the agitated waters until they reach the first circle of Hell.
The first circle of Hell contains a huge castle, containing the unbaptized and the pagans, led by the fearless leader Julius Caesar (Josh Brolin). The only way to continue their way to the second circle oh hell is to get the agreement of Caesar to lower the gates and let them through, something he hasn't done since he started ruling on the first circle. They manage to make their way in Caesar's castle thanks to Virgil's knowledge of the castle. They then enter in a duel with Julius Caesar and they manage to defeat him, thus getting his agreement to lower the gates.
They continue their journey through hell and arrive at the second circle, Lust, guarded by Minos and his army of snakes. After trying to hide from the snakes, Dante and Virgil find out it was impossible for them not to get attacked by snakes at some points and they decided to attack them directly. After a grueling melee, Dante and Virgil reach the gate, guarded by Minos, a huge snake, who instantly wraps himself around Virgil, leaving Dante alone against the beast. However, he receives unexpected help from Francesca da Rimini (Jaimie Alexander) who helps him defeat Minos, thus setting Virgil free and allowing them to continue their journey.
In the third circle, where an acid rain is falling from the sky, the two adventurers face their biggest challenge yet, Cerberus the multi-headed dog. They use a clever strategy to defeat the hound, by sinking their pointy sword through its eyes, so it couldn't see them. They advance to the fourth circle, Greed, guarded by Plutus (Ed Harris). Plutus is wise and tricks Virgil and Dante to think he's their friend and lets them easily pass, when in fact, he's an informer of Satan, warning him of their progression. The pair jumps on a boat, navigating across the Styx, on their way to the fifth circle, Wrath. They have to defend themselves from dead corpses attacking them from underwater, which makes them go even faster, to reach the sixth circle, Heresy. Virgil has many friends in Heresy and they're able to get some much needed sleep, before entering the seventh circle, Violence.
Upon descending in the seventh circle, they witness a battle between the Minotaur and Nessus (Ron Perlman) the centaur. Nessus is able to send the Minotaur and away and invites Dante and Virgil to travel with him in the dangerous 1st district of Violence. They are attacked from out of nowhere but numerous people on their way to the 2nd district, but they're all defeated rather easily by Nessus. They proceed to enter the 2nd district, populated by harpies, who don't attack them, out of fear of Nessus. The 3rd district is a great plain of fire, which Nessus helps them get through, but he collapses right before the end of the plain. They are saved by Geryon (Jared Harris), a wyvern-like creature. It gets them to the eight circle of hell, Fraud. The eight circle looks like a huge amphitheater. There, they are warned about Satan, being told how powerful he is. People in Fraud agree to join them on their adventure and they are able to gather a small army of men. They all enter the ninth and last circle, Treachery. As the name of the circle indicates, Virgil and Dante's army leaves them and go away, leaving the two of them all alone against Satan (Gary Oldman), after killing Geryon.
Satan has three heads and six giant bat-like wings. He's partially immersed in the frozen lake surrounding him and defends himself using his giant wings, that create a really strong and freezing wind. They start to attack him and after a couple of well-placed assaults, they both come to the conclusion that they won't be able to defeat Satan with their swords. Their only way out of here and to the purgatory, is located above Satan. They both decide that their best strategy is to climb on Satan, as he would not be able to hit them.
They're finally able to climb on top of Satan and escaping from Hell. They're outside for the first time in days, happy to have defeated Satan. They look up and see a huge mountain, the Purgatory, their next destination.
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