Friday, November 25, 2011

'Immortals' (2011)



Tarsem is a genius. I can't stop looking at the lush visuals in his movies. So much so that I often don't follow the story. I think that may be deliberate and impossible to overcome given his style. Zac Synder is another filmmaker who can't combine his beautiful scenes with a script worthy of them (eg. 'Suckerpunch')

I chose to get into this one from the beginning and just ride the High Concept Train on my way to becoming Mayor of Full Retard Town.

Theseus is a mortal man chosen by Zeus to lead the fight against the ruthless King Hyperion, who is on a rampage across Greece to obtain a weapon that can destroy humanity.


I can understand Hyperion's anger at the gods. He is a sympathetic character like Magneto. I get his anger. I got me some powerful anger at those cosmic assholes too. I dig the whole angry tone of the film.

Well that's the way it is with us humans, sometimes. Some people just need to be stabbed.


I enjoyed the reluctance of Theseus to come to the aid of those who despise him. It's makes his redemption and victory all that much sweeter.

The way the God's 'reveal' themselves are done in a wicked effect. I enjoyed their accents too

The script is deceptively simple but classic in it's structure. There is good mythology here - the way the worlds of man and god are depicted stay close to how a Ancient Greek would be told these stories. You can see the influences of other film making countries in Tarsem's films. I wonder how something like this would go over in somewhere like India?

Mickey Rourke is fantastic casting as the evil Hyperion. His voice is enough to terrify everyone around him.


This is not for the little ones however. Lot's of unpleasant violence. Testicular violence. Not cool Tarsem. But I forgive you for the magnificent fight choreography that was filmed. The battled between the Gods and the Titans was truly epic.


Stephen Dorff is a weird choice for this one as Stavros, Theseus' buddy. Going from working with Sophia Coppola to this film must have made his head explode.

Overall I like this one. I never saw the 3D version so I can't comment on how spectacular or unspectacular those effects were. I suspect as usual they made no difference whatsoever to one's enjoyment of this film.

7/10

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