Finally finished this one... First off, what I liked about it. The location design, the backgrounds, the sets, were all very cool looking and created plenty of visual panache throughout. A fair amount of the action stuff is really cool and when the 'Gods' get into the swing of things, it feels like something George Romero or classic Peter Jackson might do if they were making a horror tale with Greek myths behind them (complete with exploding heads and body parts).
But the film as a whole doesn't really work. The first thirty or so minutes looks interesting enough. There's potential. But then the film shows that it doesn't really do much with that potential. The main villain is pretty straightforward, gar, evil, and the main hero, as well... but the writing falters at key points and opts for more action instead of narrative that might have fixed some of the problems.
The main reason why this film doesn't work is the gods. Maybe I missed something, but I have no clear idea why Zeus is so adamant that the supposed 'law' be kept and the 'gods' can't come down and wipe out the main bad guy, other than just because that would mean there would be no movie. Give me a reason. Think of this situation. Let's say, the more the gods intervene in the mortal realm, the weaker the prison becomes for the titans. So, by intervening, they release the very threat that Hyperion is going after. So, they have to be very careful to keep the balance. Boom. A big chunk of problems solved just by explaining why it is so important that Zeus and the gods stay in their place. And that's just one idea off the top of my head. Maybe Zeus knows this, but for some reason is keeping it from the other gods. Wow, conflict, motivation, something more to explore (as we eventually learn why).
If the film wanted to dumb down the plot, the god characters should never have been introduced. Period. You don't even need them, unless you actually want to utilize them effectively. Main bad guy, feels betrayed and abandoned by the gods, so he's going to unleash an undead army to wipe out the world, the creation of these supposed gods. You don't need to introduce any god characters in this scenario and you can make a more straightforward action-like film.
300 I think is a perfect example of this. It's not complicated, by any stretch, but the character motivations are very clear, the story is very clear, the focus of what the film is is very clear, and there's nothing really to muddy it up. You either like it or you don't. On the other end of the spectrum, you have Gladiator, which is chock full of drama and conflict... and we know why the different characters do what they do and why the sister, who sees the fallacy that is her brother, but who is terrified for her son and herself... still, she helps in secret to try to free Marcus. There is a lot of meat in the story beyond just the wonderful set pieces and action parts.
Immortals aspires to capture the kind of epic struggle that Gladiator does, and yet allows itself to be just another 300 all too quickly. Not to mention, there are just searing holes in the story. A lot of things for convenience's sake, like our bad guy sneaking through a crowd full of fighting people to get to where he needs to with a big powerful bow... I just don't buy it. I'm also not too clear why Hyperion, the main baddie, needed the oracle in the first place. He clearly didn't get any use out of her... he left orders for her to be untouched, so that she could keep seeing visions (because she has to still be a virgin for this), but why? Little bits here and there, which seemed rather pointless in the scheme of the story. And they didn't need to be.
I was also extremely disappointed at the Titans once they were finally released. The only thing they had were numbers, which didn't make a whole lot of sense, because you can clearly see in the box that there aren't that many of them (and yet, tons and tons of them die when the gods get all medieval on them.) The titans were terrible. If you have the hero fail the great quest of the story, you better make dang sure it's worth it. Otherwise, why not just have a big epic clash between hero and villain and hero's army vs villain's army and somehow, he pulls it out in the end to stop the villain? If done right, axing out the gods altogether, this might have made for a more satisfying climax. The more I think about it, the more the choices made in this story irk me.
So, chalk it up to a major failed writing job.
But the film as a whole doesn't really work. The first thirty or so minutes looks interesting enough. There's potential. But then the film shows that it doesn't really do much with that potential. The main villain is pretty straightforward, gar, evil, and the main hero, as well... but the writing falters at key points and opts for more action instead of narrative that might have fixed some of the problems.
The main reason why this film doesn't work is the gods. Maybe I missed something, but I have no clear idea why Zeus is so adamant that the supposed 'law' be kept and the 'gods' can't come down and wipe out the main bad guy, other than just because that would mean there would be no movie. Give me a reason. Think of this situation. Let's say, the more the gods intervene in the mortal realm, the weaker the prison becomes for the titans. So, by intervening, they release the very threat that Hyperion is going after. So, they have to be very careful to keep the balance. Boom. A big chunk of problems solved just by explaining why it is so important that Zeus and the gods stay in their place. And that's just one idea off the top of my head. Maybe Zeus knows this, but for some reason is keeping it from the other gods. Wow, conflict, motivation, something more to explore (as we eventually learn why).
If the film wanted to dumb down the plot, the god characters should never have been introduced. Period. You don't even need them, unless you actually want to utilize them effectively. Main bad guy, feels betrayed and abandoned by the gods, so he's going to unleash an undead army to wipe out the world, the creation of these supposed gods. You don't need to introduce any god characters in this scenario and you can make a more straightforward action-like film.
300 I think is a perfect example of this. It's not complicated, by any stretch, but the character motivations are very clear, the story is very clear, the focus of what the film is is very clear, and there's nothing really to muddy it up. You either like it or you don't. On the other end of the spectrum, you have Gladiator, which is chock full of drama and conflict... and we know why the different characters do what they do and why the sister, who sees the fallacy that is her brother, but who is terrified for her son and herself... still, she helps in secret to try to free Marcus. There is a lot of meat in the story beyond just the wonderful set pieces and action parts.
Immortals aspires to capture the kind of epic struggle that Gladiator does, and yet allows itself to be just another 300 all too quickly. Not to mention, there are just searing holes in the story. A lot of things for convenience's sake, like our bad guy sneaking through a crowd full of fighting people to get to where he needs to with a big powerful bow... I just don't buy it. I'm also not too clear why Hyperion, the main baddie, needed the oracle in the first place. He clearly didn't get any use out of her... he left orders for her to be untouched, so that she could keep seeing visions (because she has to still be a virgin for this), but why? Little bits here and there, which seemed rather pointless in the scheme of the story. And they didn't need to be.
I was also extremely disappointed at the Titans once they were finally released. The only thing they had were numbers, which didn't make a whole lot of sense, because you can clearly see in the box that there aren't that many of them (and yet, tons and tons of them die when the gods get all medieval on them.) The titans were terrible. If you have the hero fail the great quest of the story, you better make dang sure it's worth it. Otherwise, why not just have a big epic clash between hero and villain and hero's army vs villain's army and somehow, he pulls it out in the end to stop the villain? If done right, axing out the gods altogether, this might have made for a more satisfying climax. The more I think about it, the more the choices made in this story irk me.
So, chalk it up to a major failed writing job.