The Gods Need A Hero
Starring: Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, Steve Byers, Kellen Lutz, Joseph Morgan, Stephen Dorff, Daniel Sharman, Alan Van Sprang, Isabel Lucas, Corey Sevier, John Hurt, Robert Maillet
Director: Tarsem Singh
2011 | 110 Minutes | Rated R
“No god will ever again come to your aid. You are on your own! Do you understand, mortal? I have faith in you, Theseus. Prove me right. Lead your people.” – Zeus
I really held off on watching Immortals for a while. I expected something that simply rehashed 300 and knowing that we have a 300 prequel on the way I wasn’t entirely sure that I wanted to watch the same film three times. Lucky for me Immortals shares very little with 300.
King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) of Heraklion searches for the Epirus Bow to release the Titans that had been imprisoned beneath MountTartarus by the gods. Theseus (Henry Cavill) is a very skilled warrior who was trained by an old man in his village (John Hurt), who is actually Zeus (Luke Evans) in disguise. After King Hyperion kills Theseus’ mother, Theseus vows to kill Hyperion and once the Titans are unleashed the gods are forced to become involved.
The story is pretty cool. Its more or less based on Greek mythology. There are definitely creative differences made but I don’t really need to delve into those. We aren’t watching Immortals for a word for word translation of these Greek stories. We’re watching it for the action.
The fights range from one on one close quarters fights to massive, epic army vs. army battles. Everything is extremely well choreographed – probably not historically accurate but fun to watch. I actually found myself getting in to the fights more than the ones in 300.
Even with the awesome fight scenes Mickey Rourke really steals the show. His King Hyperion is absolutely pure evil, almost satanic. He is an absolutely brutal king. To be ruled by him is almost as bad as going to battle with him. Hyperion has an extremely frightening and imposing stature and his soldiers look like they were taken straight out of Hell to fight for him. Rourke’s performance here takes Immortals from being a really great eye candy / popcorn flick to being a great movie all around.
Compared to Hyperion, Theseus is pretty bland and uninteresting but you have no choice but to root for him as he goes against the pure evil that is Hyperion. His fighting draws you in quickly though and most guys would have a hard time not getting behind Theseus after his rousing speech prior to the final battle.
The gods look pretty cool, completely clad in gold. I have never seen the gods portrayed in this way. Their personalities are pretty one dimensional but that feels kind of accurate to mythology to me. When Zeus finally deems it necessary for the gods to get involved in stopping the Titans we learn not to mess with the gods.
The visuals of Immortals are unique and awe inspiring. It doesn’t borrow the look of 300 at all. The best scenes are those featuring the Epirus Bow or the gods. When the gods go to battle time slows to a crawl as they annihilate their foes. And the blood FLOWS when they go to battle with the Titans. Heads explode, get cut off and are crushed. It is all amazingly presented as would be expected from a movie that boasts that it is “from the producers of 300.”
I was pleasantly surprised with Immortals. The story can get a little slow at a couple points but luckily Mickey Rourke’s performance and the excellently choreographed action sequences save us from losing any interest. Immortals is a unique take on a Greek mythological story. Considering I was expecting almost a complete redux of 300, I found Immortals to be a really refreshing and enjoyable movie.
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