Les Immortels

I guess it was the year for really bad, dumb CGI video game type films. Immortals is as awful and as deep as the worst mindless video game cut sequences. Being very poorly written may have been inevitable but this films biggest crime is that nothing of note happens for the first hour. The lack of action is puzzling for a movie such as this one. The first hour is filled with CG scenery, "gods" dressed in their best homosexual fetish duds, an occasional ominous soundtrack, and a story held together by nonsense and one brief skirmish where the lead kills three men as he tries to save his mother. Until the final battle, this movie is actually boring. The final battle was cool (although disgusting) but ultimately meaningless when anyone stops and thinks about it. In 3D or regular, this is an ungodly waste of time.

I went to see this movie with the pretense of "It's going to be a combination of Troy, 300, and Clash of the Titans"... in my own mind, Troy was a 7*, 300 a 10* and Clash of the Titans a 3* movie... That averages out to a 6.67* movie. So that's what I went in expecting.

This movie had a bit more story time than I anticipated, a lot of time was spent away from epic battles but there was plenty of fighting to keep me happy. Special effects were great, stylized blood was plenty but not too much, Frieda Pinto is gorgeous, and Henry Cavill is jacked. The acting was pretty good; to be fair, not very much was necessary from anyone besides Henry Cavill, but none of the actors underperformed.

The quality of the fight scenes was great. Not a single fight scene went by where I was like "ok, I waited 5 minutes for that!?." The fight with the Greek Gods was very well done, although many people may disagree (more on that in the next paragraph). Most of the fights are just "look at Thesius... oh how he knows how to fight." But I personally couldn't care less how many people are fighting as long as the fights are well done.

The fight pertaining to the Gods is seen partly in the trailers when you see people floating in mid air as they and their friends get punished continuously. It's very Matrix/Kung Fu style, and some people didn't like that. But the way I see it, these are Gods fighting, not humans and legends. The fight has to have a different substance than just simple blood and guts.

What really irked me were the inconsistencies with Greek Mythology and the lack luster "epicness" of the Eperius bow. For one, the number of Gods present in this movie is 5. Zeuss, Poseidon, Apollo, Athena and one more... as far as the movie goes, they could of at least shown all of the Olympians. Also, the Titans are shown as rabid monkeys against the Gods. As far as I remember, they were equal to the Gods in strength and intellect. Lastly, the Eperius Bow was not as epic as they had built it up to be; especially the first time it's shot, it sort of just happens.

All in all, the movie was what most people should expect from it. Well done fight scenes, stylized blood, gorgeous Frieda Pinto and Gods.

Honestly...I don't review many movies unless I truly see it necessary. I saw Immortals this afternoon in a matinée and thought that it was an all around great movie. I am getting really sick and tired of hearing all this negative criticism about movies that lack CGI or have an overabundance of CGI. Seriously? Is it always something that isn't good enough? People, we live in the 21st century. What do you expect movie producers and designers to do with the ongoing technological developments? The cinematic experience of today is a culmination of savory snacks and drinks with an absolutely jaw dropping, eye opening motion picture that displays technology's latest and greatest effects to the ever expectant viewers. 75 % of people who attend a movie WANT to go and see what vast improvements that technology has brought to the theater on that occasion. It's a thrill to experience unimaginable landscapes, vivid colors, epic battle sequences, and all things as such...and we are provided these things BY means of technology aka CGI. So, what I am saying, is that if you really want a film without all the technological aspects, then go to a drive-in or sit at home and pop The Goonies into your dust ridden VCR. You know that movies like Immortals are going to be filled with computer generated scenes. If you are going to argue about it in the end every time, then just stay at home and save yourself and the rest of the viewing community a lot of unwanted negativity. By the way, Immortals is so worth seeing. Thanks.

This film certainly has its flaws. Weak character development is the main one, but it's not nonexistent. The film's atmosphere and graphic bloodshed/torture is disturbing and captivating, accurately portraying what most people imagine of Greeks fighting. The story is interesting, definitely not accurately following the mythology but creating an alternate universe with the same characters. The direction, acting, and effects were all well done. Everyone who was present at the midnight showing thoroughly enjoyed it. It is not a perfect film, but it is undeniably enjoyable and much better than other similarly themed movies that have been made recently.

If you go to this looking for an accurate representation of Greek mythology, you'll be sorely disappointed. If you go to this looking for a decent, nice looking, 300-type action film you'll enjoy it. As someone who knows a bit about classical mythology I can choose to be unbelievably annoyed by them using it as a reference for this film, as it's ridiculously inaccurate, but I'm not.

Leave your smarts/knowledge at the door, enjoy the pretty action and people, the brutal violence and Freida Pinto in the buff, and you'll hopefully feel that you got your money's worth.

That's about it.