Into the Inferno (2016)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Into the Inferno (2016) *** (out of 4) Werner Herzog narrates and directs this documentary, which takes a look at various volcanoes throughout the world.I should probably start off by saying Herzog is one of my favorite filmmakers and he might be my favorite documentary filmmaker. INTO THE INFERNO was a rather interesting idea but I'm not quite sure how well the end product turned out. If you're expecting a straight documentary from the maverick filmmaker then I'm going to guess that you're unfamiliar with his work. He's created some true masterpieces but none of them play like you'd expect them to.That's certainly true for this picture, which makes you believe that it's about volcanoes but you soon realize that the director is up to his bag of tricks and delivers more but I'll get into that in a bit. As far as the volcano stuff goes, it's extremely interesting to say the least. We're pretty much given a tour of the globe as we see various volcanoes as well as get to learn about their history and get to hear some stories about previous explosions. All of this stuff is brilliantly captured as the cinematography is downright terrific and the visual images of the lave are so beautiful that I could have easily watched them for hours.With that said, the film is also about various thoughts on life and other issues. I freely admit that I didn't think this segment of the film worked and sadly there's a lot of this stuff and I think it really brought the film down. The sequences in North Korea are a prime example as we get to hear stories of how the people there are basically hostages to their leader. What does this stuff have to do with volcanoes? All of it really seems like it should have been left for a different documentary but, as I said, Herzog likes to mix things up but I just don't think it was a success here.

Werner Herzog proves again he is a monster of a documentarian. Into the Inferno is filled with stunning imagery and sounds that truly left me awestruck. The substance of the film itself was not quite what I was expecting, but it turned out that that was a good thing. This film goes places you would never really think of, and sheds light on many different cultural connections to volcanoes around the world. It more about people, societies, and culture than it is about science and geology, although there is some of that too. If you are at all interested in volcanoes and how people react and interact with them around the world, this film will pleasantly surprise you.

Werner Herzog is nothing if not an obsessive film maker. This obsession leads to stark and beautiful sights captured through his camera, which serve more of a philosophical aesthetic than any true narrative. I went into this expecting a documentary about the history of volcanoes, perhaps a narrative on their cultural considerations. Instead what I got was a personal rumination on the discompassionate, violent nature of volcanoes, put into relief by the helpless, delusional stories primitive communities create about them.Herzog superimposes his trademark "Man as nothing but subject to the indifferent forces of nature" theme subtlety throughout the film, until the end it comes forward in full, with nothing short of an apocalyptic speculation about volcanoes annihilating the planet in synchronized eruption....K.I respect Herzog's view that man is a futile, helpless, and deluded organism at the mercy of the objective and inconsiderate forces of nature, but that is nothing more than a reflection of his personal view on humanity and nature. It is not inspiring, it is not particularly original, but it is vastly dark. To that I simply say, I prefer to see the world as something of beauty, something from which we are inextricably linked, that supports us, and provides this incredible experience called human life. I am thankful for the sometimes violent beauty of nature. Herzog does a good job of disguising his nihilism beneath gorgeous shots, imagery, and commentary, and slowly leaks it in as time ticks by. It's like a good magic trick, that if pulled off effectively might just leave the viewer feeling somewhat nihilistic at the end of the movie too. Nice try Werner, not this time.

I live in Indonesia and i want to learn more about volcanoes and how they work but this movie is 99% about people and their prescriptions of life and 1% about volcanoes so i felt i it was a wast of time.When Werner was narration is so boring i felt like i wanted to give him a energy drink or a coffee!The movie still it got some amazing footage, but so horribly made in every sense!Its not educational any way, more then what people thinks of Volcanoes so i just Werner own vlog!The name of the movie could be "People Prescriptions of Volcanoes"