However, where they differ is at their core. At its base, there are good popcorn movies, and bad ones. Good ones are movies such as “Rambo” or “Commando”, movies that are so over the top and ridiculous that they cannot be taken seriously and are therefore good movies at their core. Unfortunately, “Immortals” is not that movie.
Let’s start at the same place as the movie, the opening. This bastard hybrid of “Clash of the Titans” and “300” opens with an image of our soon to be revealed villain King Hyperion, played by legendary actor Mickey Rourke. From his back, he draws back a magic bow with an arrow made of energy and fires at a cage filled with the Titans; characters described by this film as Gods, immortal beings by nature, defeated in a war with other gods. The cage is broken and the Titans are then freed, and in a flash, it is revealed this was all a prophetic vision of Phaedra, played by the lovely and talented Freida Pinto, vestal virgin and oracle.
Throughout the movie, the audience is told that the future is written, and it is the actions of those involved that shape that vision. At that moment, it is only further affirmed that the lead antagonist and villain will succeed in his mission. It is literally like seeing the ending before seeing the rest of the movie, completely diminishing any weight that the climax might have had.
After we see the vision, we are shown our main protagonist, an extremely well trained peasant boy named Theseus, played by Henry Cavill. He is protective of his widowed mother, whom he loves and takes care of despite being at odds with her over faith. This of course tells us that she is not long for the world. It is revealed that Gods do in fact walk among men, as Zeus and Athena reveal themselves during a conversation. It is stated that they must maintain neutrality and not directly interfere in the course of man. However, it is never revealed why.
It is shown that when the Gods do make their divine presence known that they could, within minutes, deal with King Hyperion, stop him from releasing the titans that would then cause war with the Gods and perhaps Armageddon in the land of men. But they don’t, because Zeus feels as though man’s faith would only be truly affirmed if they are given the situation and opportunities to alleviate their problems themselves. However, even Theseus, who was under direct tutelage of a god for most of his life until the son of Poseidon shows himself to single-handedly destroy an entire garrison of King Hyperion’s troops. “Have faith in them because they have faith in us,” he says in the film, sounds like a very thinly veiled excuse to not get them involved and end the movie before everything can happen.
This is one film that takes full advantage of its R-rating. The gore factor rivals the films that it was based on, with several beheadings and even in depth torture scenes. There are also bits of nudity and a nearly endless myriad of scantily clad women and men to keep the audience titillated in the absence of original plot or a non-predictable plot.
Final verdict, as much as a snob would argue, this movie isn’t truly bad. It is not an original story, but it is told in an engaging and steadily paced manner. Rourke’s performance is both haunting and provocative, making the most of his character. Visually speaking the film is completely brilliant, vivid and colorful. The musical score is moving and does an excellent job of evoking emotion and enthralling. The abundance of CGI is enough to make even George Lucas blush, and a film should not be rewarded for practically begging its audience to turn its brain off to enjoy it. This is not the worst film of the year, but its contention for such should be taken quite seriously.
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