All right, this movie has been getting a lot of buzz over the Web, and I finally got a chance to sit down and watch it. I'll start by saying that this is an action movie, meaning that if you're seeking a story with a strong twisting plot then it might not be your cup of tea.
But the premise is an interesting one, as the gods of Olympus have chosen a mortal man named Theseus [played by Henry Cavil, aka the new Man of Steel actor] to stand in the gap against the evil King Hyperion [played by Mickey Rourke]. Theseus is a poor peasant boy who grows up with his single mother in a mountainous village in the land of Acropolis. And he is mentored by an old man, who teaches him how to fight and acts as a father figure.....
But little does Theseus know that his mentor is actually a god in disguise; Zeus himself [played by Luke Evans].
This action movie is a unique interpretation of Greek Mythology. Thus it has classic and modern themes interwoven into it, hence creating a more fluent ancient tale that is told with a new flare. For instance, the classic renditions of Zeus, in art and cartoons, always depicts him as an old guy with a thick white beard and broad shoulders, who shoots lightning bolts. Now THIS is Zeus in the Immortals movie, on the left side:
And Zeus doesn't shoot one single freakin' bolt of lightning [and that's his daughter, Athena]. In fact, he looks just like a regular half-naked guy that could pass for a gladiator-in-training, or some extra on the set for the Spartacus Series on Showtime Cable Channel.
And perhaps the most distinguishing feature of the gods in this action movie is their color schemes and their outfits. They appear to wear gold accents and they look shinny / endowed with light whenever they show up on the scene. And they live on some sort of mystical mountain that no one sees or can climb, way up in the clouds and above the stratosphere.
Now back to the story plot:
Since he has decided to conquer the known world, starting with the Greeks, the evil King Hyperion seeks a magical weapon: a bow that projects chiseled energy blasts. And he plans to use the bow to unleash the evil Titans [fallen god-like beings] from their square-shaped tomb hidden in the heart of a mountain called Tartarus, linked to a great wall and a Greek stronghold.
[Mickey Rourke aka the evil King Hyperion on the left and the gods of Olympus on the right]
Thus Hyperion searches for the Epirus Bow and his quest leads him to temples and shrines where visionary seers and priestesses reside. He wants a priestess to see a vision that will highlight the location of the Epirus Bow and that quest leads him to hunt down the virgin Phaedra [played by the beautiful Freida Pinto. She is Indian by birth, but you'd never know just by gazing at her face and listening to her]. Thus the evil king tracks down Phaedra and her three priestess sisters - yet he doesn't know that only Phaedra bears the gift of foresight.
Soon there is a Greek traitor who leaves the good guys and goes to King Hyperion, telling him secret passageways to get to the village belonging to Theseus [this concept reminds me of 300]. That defector guy actually has to endure a rite-of-passage; thus the evil King castrates him by sentencing him to get pounded with a huge sledgehammer... in tha nuts...
[The beautiful Freida Pinto, shown above with Henry Cavil - Theseus]
Later, Theseus' village is invaded and his mother is killed by Hyperion. He fights valiantly but gets outnumbered and beaten; and he is taken captive with other thieves and thugs. However, the prison tower where he is taken is also the place were Phaedra and her 3 female associates are being held. That night, Phaedra escapes with some prisoners, including Thesesus, and their quest to overthrow Hyperion begins.
[Once again, I give you the gorgeous Freida Pinto. She has one of ...
those faces that can make a guy stare endlessly...]
Eventually, Theseus finds the magical Epirus Bow in a burial chamber and he is confronted with the mystical beast known as the Minotaur. But in the movie, the Minotaur is merely a huge muscular brute that could pass for a super heavyweight MMA fighter; and he wears a hood of chain-links above his bull-styled helmet [See the image above, in this article]. The fight is cool - as are all the fights in this movie - and the hero prevails. And that night, Theseus gets busy with the virgin priestess, Phaedra. Yes, they had sex. But in my opinion, the Conan 2010 Movie love-scene was far more passionate/fervent.
Later the team of heroes are almost killed, but two of the gods [Athena and Ares, the guy with the spiky helmet] intervene. Then Zeus shows up, and kills one of the gods in anger - he strikes Ares, who is actually his son, for intervening in the affairs of mortal men. One cool thing about the Immortals [which makes it reminiscent of the hit movie 300] is that the gods are super-fast and super-strong; thus when they show up and fight, the battles are in slow motion... yet they are moving so much faster than regular mortals that they can strike an opponent three more times before that foe actually hits the ground due to the fist punch.
Also, some so-called gods from Olympus do DIE in this movie, during their final battle against the unleashed Titans. And I sat back and said:
"Wait a minute... AREN'T THEY SUPPOSED TO BE GODS?? SO WHY THE HELL ARE THEY BLEEDING LIKE WOUNDED WOLVES AND DYING LIKE LITTLE LAMBS?"
Alas, this is another mystery of Hollywood, and that embedded mortal trait of the so-called divine beings from Olympus was probably just added simply to enhance the story - lest we sit in the theater all day watching people fight who can't die.
It seems highly unlikely that this movie is going to have a sequel, and unlike the writer of the 2010 movie Clash of The Titans, the two Parlapanides brothers [who wrote the script for the Immortals] probably were not thinking of writing a story that would be continuous, for at least 2 or 3 live-action sagas. If they were planning on creating an Immortals Sequel or an Immortals Trilogy, they probably would have ended the movie differently.
So you may ask, "All right Mr. DSNG, what exactly happens in the very end?"
And I'll have this to say: GO AND SEE THE SHIRTLESS SUPERMAN ACTOR IN ACTION BEFORE HE PUTS ON HIS CAPE AND TIGHT BLUE SPANDEX :)
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