Rated
PG-13 (Intense Battle Sequences, Disaster-Related Action and Brief Sexual Content)
Running
Time: 1 Hour & 38 Minutes
Cast-
Kit
Harington-Milo
Emily
Browning-Cassia Severus
Adewale
Akinnuoye-Agbaje-Atticus
Kiefer
Sutherland-Senator Quintus Attius Corvus
Jared
Harris-Marcus
Cassius Severus
Carrie-Anne
Moss-Aurelia Severus
Jessica
Lucas-Ariadne
Sasha
Roiz-Proculus
Joe
Pingue-Graecus
Currie
Graham-Bellator
Dylan
Schombing-Young Milo
Jean-Francois
Lachapelle-Milo's Father
Rebecca
Eady-Milo's Mother
Directed
by Paul W.S. Anderson
 |
| Man, that wind machine is quite powerful. |
Note: Screened on Wednesday, February 12, 2014 at AMC Empire 25.
In
his review, Jordan Hoffman describes "Pompeii" as 'basically a whole
lot of sitting around [while] waiting for the THING that got you into the theater
to happen' but Paul W.S. Anderson's big-budget disaster flick remains a disappointingly
derivative picture even when said thing finally happens. Destroyed and buried under
four to six meters of ash and pumice when Mount Vesuvius suddenly erupted in 79
AD, the Roman city of Pompeii has always fascinated me because the inhabitants are
literally frozen in time, with full-body plaster casts eerily capturing their
final moments of agony. Doug Stewart of Smithsonian
magazine writes that 'it was as though an eyewitness from antiquity had stepped
forward with photographs of the disaster.' Due to the lack of air and moisture,
the objects buried beneath the city have been remarkably well-preserved for almost
two thousand years, providing a rare snapshot of Roman life during the Pax Romana.
The idea of a film set during the final days of Pompeii certainly had potential
but Anderson and his writers squander all that by simply ripping off of James Cameron's
"Titanic" and Ridley Scott's "Gladiator." Since making his directorial
debut in 1994 with the crime film "Shopping," Anderson's career has pretty
much coasted on the "Resident Evil" franchise, based on the popular
video game series published by Capcom. Although none of his work has ever earned
a positive consensus on Rotten Tomatoes, I admit to having a soft spot for 1995's
"Mortal Kombat," arguably one of the better films based on a video game,
and a fighting one at that. Unfortunately, it looks like his streak of negative
reviews is set to continue unabated. The final thirty-or-so minutes of
"Pompeii" are without a doubt visually impressive but the rest of the
film is just dull filler that fails to engage in any meaningful way.
Led
by the sneering Commander Quintus Attius Corvus (Kiefer Sutherland) and his equally
corrupt aide Proculus (Sasha Roiz), an army of Roman legionaries brutally wipe
out a Celtic tribe of horsemen in Londinium, Britannia, circa 62 AD. The only survivor
of this massacre is young Milo (Dylan Schombing), who hid beneath a pile of corpses
while witnessing his parents being slaughtered. However, he is soon captured and
sold into slavery. Seventeen years later, an adult Milo (Kit Harington) is now a
deadly gladiator where he is forced to battle for his life every day in violent
matches for the amusement of the blood-thirsty crowd. His talent as a fighter catches
the eye of Graecus (Joe Pingue), who decides to take the gladiator with him to
the Roman resort city of Pompeii. While en route, Milo crosses paths with Cassia
(Emily Browning), who hails from the wealthy Severus family. She takes a liking
to him due to his natural affinity to horses. Arriving on the eve of the Vulcanalia
festival, Milo is pitted against reigning champion Atticus (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje),
an African slave on the verge of earning his freedom. All he has to do is kill his
new opponent. Also on-hand to take part in the festivities is Corvus himself,
now a senator who lusts after Cassia. He threatens her parents—Marcus (Jared Harris)
and Aurelia (Carrie-Anne Moss)—with blackmail, forcing them to agree to let
their daughter to marry him. Meanwhile, Milo warms up to Atticus, with the two becoming
fast friends and inspiring a rebellious spirit within each other. However, an
even greater danger looms overhead in the form of volcano Mount Vesuvius.
The
main draw of any disaster film has always been the disaster itself and Paul
W.S. Anderson's "Pompeii" is no different but he and his team of
writers (Lee and Janet Scott Batchler, and Michael Robert Johnson) could've at
least made an effort to think outside the box when it came to the story. Blatantly
derivative, the film is essentially just an artless photocopy of James Cameron's
"Titanic," with almost every plot point lifted wholesale from the 1997
Academy Award-winning hit. The only difference is the historical tragedy at its
center. What we have here are types instead of characters and what's worse is
that Anderson doesn't even try to hide the fact that he's just slowly spinning
his wheels until the grand finale by frequently cutting to an ominous shot of Mount
Vesuvius. The central romance in "Titanic" may have been too cheesy
for all intents and purposes but Cameron at least spent time developing his characters
so that when the eponymous ship finally sank, there would be a real emotional
weight to it. Don't look for that here in "Pompeii;" outside of two
scenes and the finale, Milo and Cassia barely have any screen-time together. As
Collider's Matt Goldberg writes, their love story basically boils down to 'I'm a
nice person; you're a nice person.' Not content with just ripping off one film,
Anderson also 'borrows' from Ridley Scott's "Gladiator," right down
to the inclusion of Juba, I mean Atticus. There's some enjoyment to be found in
the arena-set action scenes but it's hampered by the PG-13 rating.
However, they're not as incompetently edited compared to January's atrocious
"The Legend of Hercules." Of course, people are paying to see the big
bad volcano explode and Anderson certainly pulls out all the stops with fireballs
raining down from the sky and a massive tsunami hitting the city. It's all visually
impressive, although not quite worth the premium price of 3D. Plus, the destruction
goes on for far too long and becomes mind-numbingly dull after the first ten
minutes.
The
performances don't leave much of an impression, with "Game of
Thrones" alum Kit Harington doing his best as slave-turned-invincible gladiator
Milo but he fails to imbue the character with enough of a personality for him
to stand out. Emily Browning's Cassia is miswritten as a modern girl in a Roman
world and is later reduced to another throwaway damsel-in-distress. As main villain
Quintus Attius Corvus, Kiefer Sutherland is woefully miscast as he shouts and
sneers with his ridiculously distracting accent. It's hard to believe that Corvus
and Jack Bauer are even played by the same person. The only worthwhile actor to
watch is Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who manages to lend his character Atticus
some semblance of depth while offering up a few funny one-liners. In fact, he provoked
the biggest reaction from the audience (much to my annoyance) and frankly, I
wished the film had Akinnuoye-Agbaje as the lead instead of Harington. Rounding
out the rest of the cast is Jared Harris and Carrie-Anne Moss, who are fine in
their roles as Cassia's wealthy parents but they do little to hide the fact that
they're only appearing in the film to just pick up a paycheck.
Released
on February 21, 2014, "Pompeii" has received largely negative reviews
with 31% on Rotten Tomatoes. I imagine Anderson is pretty used to such a reception
by now. Critics concluded that 'this big-budget sword-and-sandal adventure lacks
the energy and storytelling heft to amount to more than a guilty pleasure.'
With "The LEGO Movie" still playing in theaters, "Pompeii"
will be lucky to reach an opening weekend debut of $15 million and will have to
pick up the slack overseas given its $100 million production budget. The destruction
of Pompeii is a fascinating moment in world history as its subsequent
preservation provides a rare glimpse to the past but in the hands of Paul W.S.
Anderson, the 16,000 Roman citizens who perished are nothing more than cannon
fodder for a mediocre disaster film that will all but be forgotten come next
week.
Final
Rating: 2 out of 5
"You
could hear
the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men. People
bewailed their own fate or that of their relatives, and there were some who
prayed for death in their terror of dying. Many besought the aid of the gods,
but still more imagined there were no gods left."
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