Immortals

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

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

Iron Man 2

Iron and Intrigue

[Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell]

Even though I was under the weather a bit, I still made it out to the theater for the sophomore effort of Iron Man. I indulged in a bucket of pop corn and kicked back for the festivities.

SYNOPSIS: Tony Stark and his alter ego, Iron Man, are targeted by a genius looking for revenge against the Stark family and a weapons manufacturer looking to take over Stark's government contracts.

As with all sequels, the same question comes up. Can you guess? Of course you know what it is. The question is whether Iron Man 2 is better or as good as the original. Cameron's "Aliens" pleased Scott's "Alien" fans with more fear and fire power, "Spider-man 2" grew up after "Spider-man" origins, and "The Empire Strikes Back" was the peak of the series, whether it is considered part 2 or 5. But for every "Empire...", there is a "Poltergeist 2", "Predator 2" and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2". Where does "iron Man 2" fit in?

Reviewers have been critical about the film, and understandingly so. "Iron Man" was a great retelling of the Marvel character's origin. A great mix of humor and action, kinetic and fast-paced. "Iron Man 2" strives for the same humor and succeeds, but is tempered by less action and more intrigue. Where the original was straight forward, "Iron Man 2" delves a little deeper into the Stark psyche and his personal demons. While there are a pair of villains in each film, Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko and Sam Rockwell as the defense weaponeer Justin Hammer ramp up the vile and vengeance.

Robert Downey, Jr. returns as the billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, mere months after he announced to the world that he was the armored avenger, Iron Man. Failing to manage his company, his hero duties, and his deteriorating health, he turns the reign of Stark CEO over to Pepper Potts. Fearing his own mortality, Stark spirals out of control with drinking and recklessness, in and out of the suit.

Downey's supporting cast mesh in this second outing. Don Cheadle's Rhodey replaces Terrance Howard without skipping a beat. And he finally gets to don the suit under the guise of War Machine. Rourke brings a wonderful Russian accent and dense intensity to every frame as the hybrid marvel villain Ivan Vanko (Crimson Dynamo) using the tech of the villain Whiplash. Sam Rockwell weasels and worms his way through the movie as Stark's second string defense contractor rival Justin Hammer, pulling all possible strings to undermine Stark and his company in order to get government contracts. Scarlet Johansson joins S.H.I.E.L.D. as the double agent Black Widow, and Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg return as Nick Fury and Agent Coulson, providing easter eggs, hints and clues as to the expanding Marvel universe.

I know I haven't answered the question as to whether "Iron Man 2" is as good or better than the original. Whether it is or not doesn't seem to have had any effect on its box office numbers. And in the end, the legacy of the second "Iron Man" film will rest, not on the words of the critics, but in the hearts of the fans.

One final word, stay to the end of the end credits for a hint at things to come.

Worth: Matinee and BluRay