Friday, November 18, 2011

Movie Review - Immortals

Immortals



Starring: Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, John Hurt, Joseph Morgan, Anne Day-Jones, Greg Bryk, and more.

Directed by: Tarsem Sighn Written by: Charley Parlapanides and Vlas Parlapanides Original Music by: Trevor Morris

Premise: King Hyperion is searching for a special bow he can use to release the Titans trapped under Mount Tartarous. It's how he seeks to reap revenge on the gods who failed him as well as the rest of the world. Young Theseus, unknowlingly trained by Zeus, gets thrown into the middle of Hyperion's chaos as he searches for the weapon. (Rated R)

Review:  I would STRONGLY caution against taking children to this one. There is a lot of carnage but also truly vicious implied torture and abuse. That being said...

This had one of the coolest and most intriguing beginnings that I've seen in a long time. The music ramped up at just the right moment to make the whole scene sing. Masterful. (And creepy. Oh so very creepy.)

Forget about what you know about Greek Mythology when you go see this film, however, as this follows it very very loosely and in some places totally changes it. So you've at least been warned. :)

Great costumes and sets and some amazing colors and contrasts. The CGI vistas are breathtaking. A lot of detail on everything. They also have a lot of fun with scene transitions, several of which were quite lovely. Depictions of murals and buildings looked very legit for the period so gave great atmosphere. And when something godlike happened, you had no doubt of it! Weirdest head gear you have ever seen as well 0 very imaginative for the gods and the priestesses. Even had some foreign tongues in a few places for flavor, though they do fall back to modern English and worse, British accents, but what the hey.

Lots of great fights! Was super impressed when Henry Cavill made some moves like pulling a sword or holding his spear (even chopping at a log that never gave) seem very natural and fluid. Aside from a little time spent on Theseus and a couple of others, the rest didn't get much in the way of build up, but it doesn't hurt the overall story too badly.

There is one bit of bad planning by the architect of the Wall, but then again I don't think they ever thought anyone would get that far. Still, the movie is fast paced, the villain has depth, and I liked the role of the gods, how they have rules they've not shared with the humans, and therefore make what they do or do not do, seem fickle to those below. Definitely a new take on Zeus for sure.

The ending was also quite neat and leaves you with a sense of unease at those things which we can't see.
   
Overall, quite the visual and fun romp.

Rating: 4 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)




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