So after seeing the trailer for this movie a few times, I was intrigued, but not enough so to see it right away. In fact, I just got around to seeing it tonight, and my friend and I spent nearly an hour picking it apart. So this isn't a formal review at all.
As such, I will include a lot of spoilers throughout the review. If you actually plan on seeing this movie and do not want the experience (ha!) spoiled then scroll to the bottom on this post for the overview.
Anywho, let's get this rolling.
I wasn't expecting anything good. Well, kind of, but I was almost expecting another Three Musketeers (well, maybe not that bad). Instead, I got something that was slightly better, and slightly worse.
Right off the bat, anyone who knows anything about Greek Mythology can just chuck that knowledge out of the window, even though this movie is based on Greek Mythology, and anyone who thinks this movie will be as epic as the God of War games were can stop that sort of thinking right now. This movie tries, but does not succeed. I would do a long review, but I have so much to discuss this would read more like an essay than a review. So, in short:
Zeus is a moron. Pure and simple. He makes bad choices all day, every day.
The gods are never defined or explained or given any character. Well, any decent character.
The top three characters are 1) the virgin oracle (dat ASS), 2)Stavros (Stephen Dorff makes this character not suck), and 3) The minotaur/beast/guy-thing.
The plot is adequate, but there is no time taken to explain anything. Magic bow? cool go find it. Who made it? What is its purpose? Why is it seemingly the only thing capable of releasing the titans? I watched the movie, and I don't even know. Why does the Oracle not like being a Oracle? Beats me.
The titans are ass. Huge quantities of ass. Instead of the awe-inspiring behemoths of power that they were in... well, everything else, in Immortals they are the same as Zeus, Athena, Ares, etc (perhaps a bit weaker), and are far, far more numerous. My friend and I call them Spider monkeys, because they act more like those than any titans I've ever seen or heard of. They make for a sweet fight scene, though.
The fight scenes are glorious. Truly spectacular. I have not seen fight scenes this awesome in quit a while.
The CGI is fantastic as well. When they say "produced by the guys from 300" they mean "this movie's CGI is freakin' sweet."
The Art design is dumb. Just dumb. Hyperions army is fairly interesting, and the armor of some of the characters is actually interesting. But the good guys? HA. Not even close. In the suit up scene before the big battle, it seems like it should be and awesome scene of the main character putting on some unique and really cool-looking armor, grabbing is special god-given sword, spear, and shield, and running off to lead his men. But no. Boring as hell mook armor and weapons.
All in all, this movie is a million moments of "it would have been significantly improved if they had done this instead." For almost every aspect of the movie, there is something that could have been explained better or looked cooler. The art design varied from bland to somewhat interesting, the story was mediocre, and the characters were terrible.
While the fight scenes are amazing in every way (I cannot explain enough how cool the fight scenes were), they cannot carry this movie. They are just too few and far between, and what is between them isn't all that good.
As such, I will include a lot of spoilers throughout the review. If you actually plan on seeing this movie and do not want the experience (ha!) spoiled then scroll to the bottom on this post for the overview.
Anywho, let's get this rolling.
I wasn't expecting anything good. Well, kind of, but I was almost expecting another Three Musketeers (well, maybe not that bad). Instead, I got something that was slightly better, and slightly worse.
Right off the bat, anyone who knows anything about Greek Mythology can just chuck that knowledge out of the window, even though this movie is based on Greek Mythology, and anyone who thinks this movie will be as epic as the God of War games were can stop that sort of thinking right now. This movie tries, but does not succeed. I would do a long review, but I have so much to discuss this would read more like an essay than a review. So, in short:
Zeus is a moron. Pure and simple. He makes bad choices all day, every day.
The gods are never defined or explained or given any character. Well, any decent character.
The top three characters are 1) the virgin oracle (dat ASS), 2)Stavros (Stephen Dorff makes this character not suck), and 3) The minotaur/beast/guy-thing.
The plot is adequate, but there is no time taken to explain anything. Magic bow? cool go find it. Who made it? What is its purpose? Why is it seemingly the only thing capable of releasing the titans? I watched the movie, and I don't even know. Why does the Oracle not like being a Oracle? Beats me.
The titans are ass. Huge quantities of ass. Instead of the awe-inspiring behemoths of power that they were in... well, everything else, in Immortals they are the same as Zeus, Athena, Ares, etc (perhaps a bit weaker), and are far, far more numerous. My friend and I call them Spider monkeys, because they act more like those than any titans I've ever seen or heard of. They make for a sweet fight scene, though.
The fight scenes are glorious. Truly spectacular. I have not seen fight scenes this awesome in quit a while.
The CGI is fantastic as well. When they say "produced by the guys from 300" they mean "this movie's CGI is freakin' sweet."
The Art design is dumb. Just dumb. Hyperions army is fairly interesting, and the armor of some of the characters is actually interesting. But the good guys? HA. Not even close. In the suit up scene before the big battle, it seems like it should be and awesome scene of the main character putting on some unique and really cool-looking armor, grabbing is special god-given sword, spear, and shield, and running off to lead his men. But no. Boring as hell mook armor and weapons.
All in all, this movie is a million moments of "it would have been significantly improved if they had done this instead." For almost every aspect of the movie, there is something that could have been explained better or looked cooler. The art design varied from bland to somewhat interesting, the story was mediocre, and the characters were terrible.
While the fight scenes are amazing in every way (I cannot explain enough how cool the fight scenes were), they cannot carry this movie. They are just too few and far between, and what is between them isn't all that good.
