Brutal and Slick
Director: Tarsem Singh
Writers: Charles Parlapanides, Vlas Parlapanides
Cast: Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, John Hurt, Joseph Morgan
Cast: Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, John Hurt, Joseph Morgan
SYNOPSIS: Millenia ago, the immortals learned that they had the ability to kill each other. The winners of the war named themselves gods, banishing and imprisoning the defeated and renaming them Titans. Ages later, mortal King Hyperion amasses an army to uncover a mystical archer's bow to release the Titans from their captivity. Only one of Zeus' favored mortals, Theseus, has the courage and strength to stand up to Hyperion's plans.
REVIEW: Tarsem Singh, director of such films as The Cell, The Fall, and the upcoming Mirror, Mirror, comes to the screen with an ancient tale involving greek gods and puny mortals. First time writer Charley Parlapanides is joined by Vlas Parlapanides (Everything for a Reason) to rewrite the mythology of the greek Athenian hero, Theseus.
Theseus (Henry Cavill, the upcoming Man of Steel) has led his young life tutored in the matters of politics, philosophy and soldiering by an old family friend (John Hurt). A peasant by birth, Theseus finds himself and his mother forced to wait to evacuate their village while all of the wealthier residents are escorted early by soldiers. Meanwhile, the gods turn to Zeus (Luke Evans, The Three Musketeers (2011)) for wisdom as they realize that King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler) is closing in on finding the Epirus Bow and having the means to release the long-imprisoned Titans. After the razing of his village, Theseus finds himself a prisoner in a salt mine. He is discovered by a virgin oracle Phaedra (Freida Pinto, Rise of the Planet of the Apes) who prophesies that Theseus will either mark the destruction of the human race or its salvation. Upon his escape, Theseus is joined by Phaedra, a thief named Stavros (Stephen Dorff, Blade), and select others to track down King Hyperion.
Stylized and brutal, director Tarsem Singh mentioned that he envisioned that Immortals would be a shot with the sensibilities and scope of Renaissance painting styles combined with the knock down, drag out kinetics of Fight Club. Whether Immortals fully realized his dreams for the film, Singh delivers a gods-filled flick wrought with raw power and strong punches, but overall weak storytelling. Like Sam Worthington's Clash of the Titans remake, substance of story takes a back seat to an epic cinema scope, style, and visual effects.
Zack Synder's 300 brought the genre of ancient epics back to full life in 2006. Troy made almost $500 million before it in 2004. Ridley Scott's Gladiator won the Best Picture Oscar in 2000. Since the inception of Avatar's introduction and rebirth of 3D technology and the millennial success of the genre, there has been a rash of mythical Roman and Greek stories - for better or worse.
Immortals looks cool and slick. Throughout the film, acts of betrayal and brutality define the direction of the story. When King Hyperion is approached by Lysander (Joseph Morgan), an enemy exiled soldier, Hyperion rewards him with induction into his ranks with disfiguration and castration. The gods, while aiding Theseus against Hyperion's minions, battle in real time while their enemies skulls are crushed with massive godly war hammers in a new age Matrix-y way. And the last twenty minutes are a non-stop slugfest.
If you are looking for good storytelling to match the cool cinema from the trailers, you will probably be disappointed. If you are looking for a stylized escape with a bucket of warm butter drizzled popcorn, keep this in mind.
WORTH: Matinee or Rental
REVIEW: Tarsem Singh, director of such films as The Cell, The Fall, and the upcoming Mirror, Mirror, comes to the screen with an ancient tale involving greek gods and puny mortals. First time writer Charley Parlapanides is joined by Vlas Parlapanides (Everything for a Reason) to rewrite the mythology of the greek Athenian hero, Theseus.
Theseus (Henry Cavill, the upcoming Man of Steel) has led his young life tutored in the matters of politics, philosophy and soldiering by an old family friend (John Hurt). A peasant by birth, Theseus finds himself and his mother forced to wait to evacuate their village while all of the wealthier residents are escorted early by soldiers. Meanwhile, the gods turn to Zeus (Luke Evans, The Three Musketeers (2011)) for wisdom as they realize that King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler) is closing in on finding the Epirus Bow and having the means to release the long-imprisoned Titans. After the razing of his village, Theseus finds himself a prisoner in a salt mine. He is discovered by a virgin oracle Phaedra (Freida Pinto, Rise of the Planet of the Apes) who prophesies that Theseus will either mark the destruction of the human race or its salvation. Upon his escape, Theseus is joined by Phaedra, a thief named Stavros (Stephen Dorff, Blade), and select others to track down King Hyperion.
Stylized and brutal, director Tarsem Singh mentioned that he envisioned that Immortals would be a shot with the sensibilities and scope of Renaissance painting styles combined with the knock down, drag out kinetics of Fight Club. Whether Immortals fully realized his dreams for the film, Singh delivers a gods-filled flick wrought with raw power and strong punches, but overall weak storytelling. Like Sam Worthington's Clash of the Titans remake, substance of story takes a back seat to an epic cinema scope, style, and visual effects.
Zack Synder's 300 brought the genre of ancient epics back to full life in 2006. Troy made almost $500 million before it in 2004. Ridley Scott's Gladiator won the Best Picture Oscar in 2000. Since the inception of Avatar's introduction and rebirth of 3D technology and the millennial success of the genre, there has been a rash of mythical Roman and Greek stories - for better or worse.
Immortals looks cool and slick. Throughout the film, acts of betrayal and brutality define the direction of the story. When King Hyperion is approached by Lysander (Joseph Morgan), an enemy exiled soldier, Hyperion rewards him with induction into his ranks with disfiguration and castration. The gods, while aiding Theseus against Hyperion's minions, battle in real time while their enemies skulls are crushed with massive godly war hammers in a new age Matrix-y way. And the last twenty minutes are a non-stop slugfest.
If you are looking for good storytelling to match the cool cinema from the trailers, you will probably be disappointed. If you are looking for a stylized escape with a bucket of warm butter drizzled popcorn, keep this in mind.
WORTH: Matinee or Rental
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