Greek mythology has inspired
cinema for years. From the original Clash of The Titans, Jason and The
Argonauts and more recently Troy, even Disney got involved telling the story of
Hercules (albeit loosely). So after the recent success (not critically) of
Clash of The Titans and 300 Hollywood realised there would be a way to combine
the two via visionary director Tarsem Singh (The Fall, forthcoming Snow White
epic Mirror Mirror) and so we get Immortals... in 3D.
Those familiar to The Clash of The
Titans story will be familiar with the premise of Immortals even though it has
been slightly altered. Theseus (Henry Cavill; TV's The Tudors, the forthcoming
Superman movie as the man himself) is forced into a battle against the
oppressive force of King Hyperion's (Mickey Rourke; Iron Man 2, The
Expendables) rule. After his mother is killed by the king himself he is taken
prisoner and forced to engage in an uprising and to get back the one weapon
that could cause chaos amongst his people with the release of the titans.
Along the way Theseus meets
Phaedra, (Freida Pinto; Rise of The Planet of The Apes, You Will Meet A Tall
Dark Stranger) a psychic who can see a rather confusing but victorious future
for Theseus and enables him to escape captivity in order to help him achieve
his destiny. So Theseus must raise an army from the ground upwards to overcome
the evil king's rule.
As mentioned before there are a
few differences to the Clash of The Titans storyline but the main elements are
there, if anything it seems like a sequel with a very different cast and
appealing to a very different audience. Theseus is of course related to the
gods, being Zeus's (played on Earth by John Hurt, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,
Melancholia and in the heavens by Luke Evans; The Three Musketeers 3D, Tamara
Drewe) son and living amongst mortals but he is unaware of his lineage so the
surprise when the gods intervene (and they really do intervene) is still there.
Tarsem Singh, who has been
credited as Tarsem or in this case Tarsem Singh Dhandwar is truly a visionary
director. He is able to create vivid imagery which sticks in the mind for a
long time, and usually with a very small budget. His previous work on The Fall
won critical acclaim, with some suggesting a bit of digital trickery to which
he has strongly denied. Also his directorial debut, The Cell, an exploration of
the darkest side of the human psyche, has striking cinematic presence if the
film itself may have fallen by the wayside as time has gone on. So this almost
feels like an ambitious step out on his own for Tarsem and considering his
next, perhaps more mainstream project, he may have a lot to prove.
Unfortunately there seems to be a
lot of misdirection (no pun intended) here. Whilst telling the story of
Theseus' struggle there is a lot of attention to the violence of the movie
which makes the audience wonder who exactly it is aimed towards. At a UK 15
certificate a lot of the action seems to stop short of where it wants to go and
so the older audience, looking for a bit of mind-numbing violence may be left
feeling a bit short changed. As with 300 that had the same certification, there
is also a lot of style over substance so those looking for an interesting and
engaging historical action movie may be left a bit short too.
Also the casting is a little
peculiar considering one of the world's greatest actors, John Hurt is left to a
supporting role and Luke Evans (40 years Hurt's junior) is given the role of
Zeus, the king of the gods but with very little gravitas that a more seasoned
actor could bring to the role. In fact all of the actors playing the gods,
although being attractive, with a few of the elder actors barely reaching 40,
most are under 30 so a lot of the audience are left wondering if somebody who
is actually in charge will come along.
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