Film Review: Immortals
Nov 19, 2011 01:35AM ● By Wendy Sipple
King Hyperion marches across Greece taking villages by force looking for the Bow of Epirus, a weapon powerful enough to allow him to other throw the Gods. During a raid he murders Theseus’s mother. With the unknown guidance of Zeus himself, Theseus escapes imprisonment and seeks revenge against King Hyperion and his massive army.
This movie is exactly as advertised. It features Roman-style gladiators killing each other in very bloody ways. Fans of movies like 300 and Gladiator will be pleased with this movie. The action is spread throughout the movie and the pace is quick. The visual style is very close to 300 as well, and it gives the film a clear style. Unlike the movie Conan -- released earlier this year -- the heroes are likable, the villains are easy to dislike and the plot is fairly straight forward.
Although a good hero is wanted for a good action movie, an excellent villain is an absolute must. Mickey Rourke’s portrayal of King Hyperion is awesome. He is viscous but the revenge subplot makes the character something more. Henry Cavill is good in the lead as Theseus. After watching Cavill in Immortals it is easy to be excited for his next role in Superman. He has the “good guy” aura about him. I also enjoyed Luke Evans performance as Zeus as well.
The movie’s best parts quite clearly belonged to the gods. Those scenes were so good in fact it made wish the film makers had chosen to make a movie based on the gods' fight against the titans and not the current story -- the action scene pitting the gods against the titans was fantastic in a visceral and bloody way. That’s not to say that the other action scenes were bad, but the battles featuring the gods were so epic it made the battle of men seem tame.
Tarsem Singh has a visual flair to his direction. His upcoming film Mirror Mirror shows off the same aggressiveness with his vibrant picture and style. I was very surprised that because of his style the 3D effect in Immortals was quite good for a dimly lit movie. It was a much stronger 3D conversion than several other large budget action films from earlier this year. I still don’t think the extra surcharge is worth the effect most of the time, but the 3D here was done well.
In the end this is a very capable action movie. If you are not a fan of blood and guts action you will not enjoy this movie. The romance is not strong enough to give non-action fans a reason to see this. But for those who like hand to hand combat, good villains and fast paced action as a break from reality Immortals will more than fill that need.
Films like Immortals – 300, Braveheart, Gladiator and Clash of the Titans
Justin Buettner is Style's resident movie dude! How did he get this role? Well, he graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a Bachelor of Arts in film Production and a duel minor in Animation and Business with an emphasis in the entertainment field. He later went on to work on several independent films in various key roles including writer and later worked in the special effects field as a motion capture artist. He has since relocated to the Sacramento area with his family and continues writing for small independent films in addition to his movie reviews for Style Magazine.