Starring: Henry Cavill, Freida Pinto, Mickey Rourke, John Hurt,
Kellan Lutz, Joseph Morgan, Isabel Lucas, Luke Evans, Stephen Dorff,
Robert Maillet, Stephen McHattie, Corey Sevier, Greg Bryk, Alan Van
Sprang, Steve Byers, Peter Stebbings, Matthew G. Taylor Directed by: Tarsem Singh
U.S.
Opening Date: November 11th, 2011
THEY SAY
Eons after the Gods won their mythic struggle against the Titans, a new
evil threatens the land. Mad with power, King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) has
declared war against humanity. Amassing a bloodthirsty army of soldiers
disfigured by his own hand, Hyperion has scorched Greece in search of the
legendary Epirus Bow, a weapon of unimaginable power forged in the heavens
by Ares.
Only he who possesses this bow can unleash the Titans, who have been
imprisoned deep within the walls of Mount Tartaros since the dawn of time
and thirst for revenge. In the king’s hands, the bow would rain
destruction upon mankind and annihilate the Gods. But ancient law dictates
the Gods must not intervene in man’s conflict. They remain powerless to
stop Hyperion…until a peasant named Theseus (Henry Cavill) comes forth as
their only hope.
Secretly chosen by Zeus, Theseus must save his people from Hyperion and
his hordes. Rallying a band of fellow outsiders—including visionary
priestess Phaedra (Freida Pinto) and cunning slave Stavros (Stephen Dorff)—one
hero will lead the uprising, or watch his homeland fall into ruin and his
Gods vanish into legend.
The 3-D epic adventure Immortals is directed by revolutionary visualist
Tarsem Singh (The Cell, The Fall) and
produced by Gianni Nunnari and Mark Canton, the producers of
300, as well as Ryan Kavanaugh (Dear
John, The Dark Fields).
WE SAY
The trailer certainly counts off the clichés: the slow-motion battle
scenes, the rousing speech before the battle, etc. etc.
Okay, to be fair the “rousing speech before battle” has been round the
time of Shakespeare’s Henry V, but still: plot-wise Immortals seem
to be a rewrite of the Clash of the Titans
and 300.
Yet, there is something “off” about the visuals in the Immortals
trailer. It seems all familiar yet strange at the same time. That is
probably because the movie is directed by one Tarsem Singh. Singh made a
splash in 2000 with The Cell. Plot-wise it
was an unremarkable Jennifer Lopez star vehicle (what just did happen to
her?): an FBI agent has to “enter” the mind of a serial killer to save a
kidnapped victim of said killer.
The movie however boasted some fantastically surreal imagery thanks to
director Singh, which elevated the movie to something more than yet
another Silence of the Lambs cash-in.
One can only hope that director Singh can pull the same off with
Immortals: the plot may seem like a humdrum reworking of ancient Greek
legends but the original visuals will blow audiences away. Here’s keeping
our fingers crossed.
