"Immortals" won't stand up to test of time

The entire future of Greek society has come under attack in "Immortals." King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) has enlisted an army of followers on his bloodthirsty quest for the fabled Epirusbow, a weapon created by the Olympian gods that's capable of releasing the fallen Titans upon the earth and destroying known civilization. A young and seductively rugged peasant by the name of Theseus (Henry Cavill) is the only one capable of stopping the vehement King. His vendetta against the cruel ruler comes after he's forced to witness Hyperion's personal, brutal slaying of his mother, yet the power to defend mankind can only come from within him.

Produced by Gianni Nunnari (300), Ryan Kavanaugh (The Fighter) and Mark Canton (300), "Immortals" has the feel of being the next in the series of Greek warrior movies like "300," except with more scenes depicting extravagant, violent deaths. From slow-motion head smashing with hammers to large, virulent battle scenes, you can't seem to watch more than five to ten minutes of film without somebody dying an incredibly bloody death.      

Cavill brings the character of Theseus to life against a group of incredibly Americanized Greeks. While the set and costume allows the viewers to know they are watching an attempt at bringing a Greek epic to the silver screen, the roles and characters could have been ripped straight from an old western. Theseus assembles a small band of followers to help him in his fight against Hyperion, including the rough and tough thief of a slave Stavros (Stephen Dorff), with a western accent and manifest destiny outlook on life to boot. Theseus' love interest, the virgin Sybelline Oracle Phaedra (Freida Pinto) depicts an incredibly powerful and empowered woman; perhaps too empowered for her to believably be portraying a woman of ancient Greece. 

However, the film's inability to accurately relay the stories of Greek mythology is frightening. The beginning of the film tells the tale of the Epirus bow and how it came to exist during the battle between the gods and the titans before the beginning of mankind. The bow itself does not actually appear in Greek mythology, and Hyperion himself was not a king, but instead one of the original twelve titans. The tale of the battle depicts the titans as falling from the graces of the Olympian gods and thus being banished to eternal entrapment within Mount Tartarus, a story line not incredibly different from a large-scale version of the banishment of Lucifer. In actual Greek mythology, the Titans were the original rulers of the Earth and Universe until Zeus and his siblings, the gods of Olympus and children of Titan king Cronus, overthrew them. 

The costuming department, headed by Eiko Ishioka, was another division that could have used a brush up in Greek history. The good, logical King Dareios (Alan Van Sprang) is depicted as wearing a toga when he steps in for his first scene, yet togas were an invent of the Romans, not to mention the fact that the King's toga looks just as well put together as those found at Kappa's toga party each fall. Ishioka must also have a thing for sequins; the sparkly craft aids were smattered and plastered all over the epirus bow once it was found, the weapons of the Olympians used in battle, the mask of King Hyperion and multiple other costume accessories that cloaked an important character. Elton John couldn't have done a better job bedazzling the costumes himself.

The artistic genius of director Tarsem Singh (The Cell, The Fall) is not to be overlooked. The transitions and cutaways between scenes were impressively beautiful and seamlessly done, with one scene of a fallen man's bleeding head transforming into a night scene of a Hyperion's vessel on the water, his blood becoming the waves, his fallen face the ship, his hair the oars propelling the boat forward. The traditionally symbolic scenes of a character washing their hands in a water bowl were made use of, although perhaps a few too many times.

Combine the butchered interpretation of Greek mythology with excessive violence and a costume department which must have come straight from the showroom of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, and you have an expected, unimpressive American attempt at a Greek inspired film. While a basically entertaining piece of work, the movie left me walking away with a feeling of disappointment. My eye was constantly entertained throughout the film, yet the dialogue, story line and overall plot development were severely lacking. "Immortals" presents itself as not much more than a good watch for mind numbing gore and action filled performances.

Duffy's Grade: C 

Entertaining, yet not much more. Rife with historical inaccuracies, a disappointing romantic storyline, and little to no intellectual stimulation.