Some of the nicest parts of the film start with Henry Cavill as our hero Theseus. His acting, his passion and his presence as our main hero shined through and through in Immortals. I hadn’t seen the man in many things, besides Stardust — he was evil in that one… sorta, so I didn’t have a high opinion on him when I first saw the Immortals trailer. After seeing this action packed, 300-esque film I can safely say that I can’t wait to see him as the man of steel (Superman). His physique, his hungry look of a hero really led the charge in this one. On top of the look of Theseus, he also sold the character to the audience with his drive. You fully understood this man wanted to be unique, and at the same time wanted to make sure that evil was defeated at all costs. He will sell you this in about the first 10 minutes of the film.
Good stuff.
Regretfully, the film can’t hold together with just Cavill’s performance.
The first real issue I had with this was casting Mickey Rourke as the antagonist. Don’t get me wrong, Rourke plays a wonderful bad guy, but he just didn’t fit in this universe as King Hyperion. His does a good job with presenting Hyperion’s cruel nature, but he speaks with an American accent throughout the entire film. This movie is set in Greece. I fully realize that everyone else pretty much speaks with a British accent, but that fits the mold more with the overall group. This guy from New York is an outcast, an oddity, if you will, for this role. I love the actor, but his accent killed the believability of the story and the situation at hand. Sounds really petty, I know, but what about Kevin Costner and Robin Hood? Remember that one? Yep, and most of the controversy surrounded his accent losing it’s British twang.
I really do appreciate the cruelty and evil that Rourke brought with Hyperion, but he also killed the character for me.
Now, the bigger issue with the film, and the first plot point, surrounded the main hero, Theseus. Theseus was a mortal man that was chosen by Zeus to defeat Hyperion. Sounds pretty simple, straightforward type of story, right? Well, you would think so, except for Zeus throwing in the clause, “If he chooses to do so…” Greek tragedies always focused on set fates and foreshadowing. They were never an ‘either or’ sort of thing. This uncertainty really set the story off on the wrong foot.
From this point, the story fires off into a series of action scenes that somehow lead into the main plot point that Hyperion is ravaging the land in search of supposedly mythical bow that will help him unleash the titans trapped in a cage built by the Gods. Both plot points that drive the film seem to be competing for space in the story, especially once the oracle predicts more events in Theseus’ life which include finding and fighting with the mythical bow.
I just didn’t understand what Theseus was supposed to do, or how Hyperion got to the point of power that he did. It was like watching the middle of a story that had been built up, but the beginning and ending was never fully or properly explained. All you get is that Hyperion is cruel, he wants a bow, he is taking over the land and he doesn’t take shit off of people. Theseus isn’t much better, as you don’t get a proper explanation of his purpose or what becomes of him after the deeds are done. There’s just so much in this story that is left unexplained. It was like they were in a rush to get to the action scenes by any means (and sacrifices) necessary.
It was all very confusing to watch, which saddens me because I could definitely see the film’s potential if the story had been followed through properly.
Anyway, if you enjoyed 300 then there is a good possibility that you’ll find some entertainment in this film. If you didn’t care for 300 then you may want to rent before doing anything else with the Immortals.
Now, as for the Blu-ray portion of this release, the HD is actual quite crisp and clean — when you can actually see the scenes. Most of the movie is dark, and I mean really dark. There were some scenes where I had to adjust my television just to see what was going on. And it just wasn’t my television because I installed the digital copy of this film to make sure I wasn’t going crazy. The digital copy was even slightly darker than the Blu-ray version. Outside of that, the HD was pretty darn good when you could see things. Especially the battle scenes at the end; they were really smooth looking scenes. As for the audio, you get some pretty brilliant mix with a solid 5.1 mastering that will make your speakers happy.
As for special features, here’s what you’re looking at:
· Alternate Opening
– Young Theseus
· Two Alternate Endings
– This Is Our Last Embrace
– Theseus Kills Hyperion
· Behind-The-Scenes Featurettes
– It’s No Myth
– Caravaggio Meets Fight Club: Tarsem’s Vision
· Deleted Scenes
· Immortals: Gods & Heroes (Graphic Novel)
A very solid set of features that extend the life of the main feature. You get some great alternate endings, fantastic behind the scenes featurettes and a boatload of fun info on the production. This is by far the strongest part of the Blu-ray release, and one that probably drive people to purchase or even view this release. This is very solid material for your money.