Sunday, November 13, 2011

Immortals

Year of Release: 2011

Director: Tarsem Singh

Stars: Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, John Hurt, Joseph Morgan, Isabel Lucas, Kellan Lutz, Daniel Sharman, Alan Van Sprang

Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy

Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6

Synopsis:

Tarsem Singh has made his name as a director of commercials. His previous two feature films, "The Cell" and "The Fall", have been met with divisive reviews, but one underlying opinion was the unique visuals that populated both films. That unique visual flair is something that is back on "Immortals", which follows the story of Theseus, who is chosen by Zeus, a God from Olympus, to battle the king Hyperion, who is bent on releasing Titans, creatures who can battle and destroy the Gods. Theseus sees his village being destroyed and his mother being killed, which sets him on a path to battle Hyperion, with the aid of a beautiful Oracle named Phaedra.
"Immortals" is a dynamic and visually ravishing film. The director has mentioned that he tried to create a film that is visually similar to the artwork of Caravaggio, and that comes across clearly in the film. Unlike Zack Snyder's "300" which was hyper stylized and very much an adaptation of the graphic novel (by Frank Miller), "Immortals" tries to build something that is more elaborate and artistically minded. If visually that works fantastically well, on the narrative side that never really is accomplished. The screenplay and all the characters are paper thin - there is no depth or much novelty to the way the characters are presented. Sadly, there's only so much a director can do when the screenplay is populated by cliches. The film has stunning cinematography, art direction, though the actors never really achieve anything beyond mediocrity. A film worth watching for it's aesthetic pleasure and not much else.