IMMORTALS

Holy Shit

That image right there is why I wanted to see this film.  Director Tarsem knows how to find a captivating and indelible image and he fills his films with so many of them that it's a wonder that they're not any better.  The film has so many creative visuals bursting out of every corner that you almost get used to them, only noticing the things that seem to fall short of their surrounding heightened visual reality, like the lackluster small room where a key climactic fight scene takes place.  The plot is simple: can the brave warrior Theseus (Henry Cavill), aided by the Oracle (Freida Pinto), stop King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) from using the Epirus Bow (Neat) to unleash the Titans and bring out a heavenly civil war that would end existence?  Sure, hope so.

The plot has some holes that I guess nobody felt like writing around.  Hyperion has been searching for the Oracle (and her decoys) for some time and at some expense of men, money and will power.  But once he has the four of them captured, he leaves them guarded by a few drunk soldiers next to a watering hole, where they are also guarding several fit, capable, murderous prisoners who have been pressed into service in his salt mines.  Even worse, during the climactic battle between Hyperion's army and the forces of the Hellenic Council at the gate that blocks Mount Tartarus, someone is able to just sneak through the fracas into some kind of little backdoor which leads down to where the Titans are imprisoned which is the whole point of the damn movie, from opening scene onward.  If there is a back staircase to Hell, someone should be guarding it.

The way this film presents the Gods (and their vanquished foes Titans) is interesting but also kinda head-scratching.  They are marvelous to look at it and it's a nice change of pace to cast young handsome people as the Greek Gods instead of older respected British actors.  The titans are also a far cry from what you might expect.  They all look identical, and eons of imprisonment has warped them almost beyond recognition; they have rotting grey skin and move about like feral animals, all grunting, scrambling instinct and not a shred of nobility.  They stand in stark contrast to the immaculately golden Gods of Mount Olympus, all of them with their flawless skin, chiseled abs and amazing costumes.  If only the Gods had a bit more individuality.  They don't identify who most of them are, and unless the costume and behavior are a dead giveaway (like Poseidon) then you might be surprised at the deities listed in the closing credits.

Mickey Rourke is an inspired choice for the villain.  Most of the cast is not American (save Dorff) so he seems different from them.  He's not who you might expect for this sort of movie, but I think it works to his advantage.  His King Hyperion has decided to destroy the world in order to salve his grief from the death of his wife and child.  He has moved past the five stages we might normally expect into something completely different, and his performance shows it.  He slobbers up pomegranates and flings the scraps anywhere and everywhere, including the holy fountains of sacred temples.  His voice sounds like a man who spent years screaming/crying/roaring and now can barely shout.

Henry Cavill is not so great here but it's not really like he's failing the material.  He can punch, kick and slash with the best of them and he gives a perfunctory rousing speech near the end almost like somebody realized they had made it this far without one and should probably just throw one in.  His chemistry with Freida Pinto is not strong, and his camaraderie with Stephen Dorff's Han Solo-esque soldier of fortune is barely established before it's dropped completely.  But Cavill does have a body carved from marble and he banters well with John Hurt, so it's not a total wash. 

~ Henry Cavill is our new Superman.  So now Superman, Batman, and Spiderman are British; at least Wolverine is still Australian.

~ Director Tarsem Singh is normally credited simply as Tarsem.  Here we get a "A Film by Tarsem" credit but not long after we also get a 'Directed by Tarsem Dhandwar Singh" credit.  The mystery continues.

~ The copyright credit seems to indicate that this film was very nearly titled 'War of the Gods'.

~ Tarsem's previous films are The Cell and The Fall which share with this film amazing visuals and muddled storytelling.  His upcoming project Mirror, Mirror looks uhhhhh...... 

~ This film is bloody, but not gory.  A God can smash the skull of everybody in the room into strawberry jam before they can even raise their hands but it doesn't really look horrific.  When the Gods combat the Titans, the blood flows freely as well.  For CGI blood and combat effects, I found them surprisingly adequate.

~ Costume designer Eiko Ishioka is perhaps best known for her Academy Award winning work on the 1992 film Bram Stoker's Dracula.  She has worked on Tarsem's other films, and on one of the most underrated classics of the last 30 years, the 1985 film Mishima: A Life In Four Chapters.  She does fantastic work again here.  Mickey Rourke's helmet alone should earn her accolades.

~ Instead of fighting a minotaur, Theseus fights a fearsome, mute, pseudo-monstrous foe clad in a razor-wire Minotaur helmet.  Acceptable.

~ Stephen Dorff is second billed in a movie...  and the year is 2011.  Good for him.  I bet back when he was the hammy villain Deacon Frost in Blade nobody thought "Yeah this dude will outlast Snipes."

~ Freida Pinto's body double steals one scene from Freida Pinto.