Immortals (2011)

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  TheMovieDiorama

  5 / 10

  Immortals fails to immortalise itself as one of the great Greek mythological epics. Perhaps another saturated sub-genre, the "swords and sandals" films that tackle Ancient Greek and Roman mythology. Whether it be battling titans, overruling tyrants, joining the Gods...or in this case all of the above. Immortals tries to be everything, but never fully succeeds in translating any of these appropriately. Theseus and a small band of peasants are embroiled in a battle for power. King Hyperion searches for the Emperor's Bow to free the imprisoned Titans which the Gods locked away in Mount Tartarus. Mimicking the over stylised violence of '300', it is a definite case of style over substance. It's a perfectly good looking epic that captures the grandiose of Ancient Greece and presents memorable battle sequences. The Gods of Mount Olympus swarming in on the Titans was one of the better scenes, particularly the blend of slow motion and real time movement. Some infrequent use of one take fight scenes as Theseus waves his sword around side on from the camera. But this is then omitted by a plague of quick cuts during simple dialogue segments that really just infuriated me. Back and forth, back and forth, the editing was horrific. The acting consists of testosterone fuelled screams and monologues about the divinity of mankind and the opposition of tyranny. Yawwwn. The characters were one-dimensional and therefore the story gave me no thrills. Yes I could watch Mickey Rourke decimate Henry Cavill for ten minutes, yet it amounts to nothing. Actually it does amount to something, an underwhelming conclusion. Also John Hurt was criminally underused. Costumes, visual effects (even the apparent green screen) and the production design were all good. It's just nothing new, and unfortunately for Immortals it has been done better. I actually prefer 'Clash of the Titans', and I don't mean the original...

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