Immortals:

Short-lived impact

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

The visual artistic creativity behind Tarsem Singh’s 2011 fantasy production, Immortals, is astounding but its screenplay fails to impress the audience. It simply moves from one stunning frame to another without rousing curiosity or emotions.

The mythical aspect of the tale is captured at the beginning when it is announced to the viewers and depicted in drawings and sculptures found in temples and vase paintings belonging to the Hellenic period. This is the typical fashion of Greek, Roman and Egyptian epic movies and director Singh does not shy away from the tradition.

The story opens with the Theseus as a pheasant. Secretly watched over by the gods since birth Theseus’ destiny is decided when he his forced to witness his mother’s throat being slit by the war-hungry King Hyperion’s army. After being captured and treated as a slave he encounters Phaedra, the beautiful virgin oracle, who foresees his role in the coming battle. She escapes from captivity with Theseus and a few others and encourages them to form an army against the evil Hyperion. Enraged by the indifferent nature of the gods, Hyperion is trying to locate the elusive Bow of Epirus, an equipment which can shoot an unlimited number of arrows in rapid succession, to free the Titans from their snare and overthrow the gods from their throne in mount Olympus.

Theseus and Phaedra fall in love. Theseus leads the newly gathered soldiers against Hyperion’s troupe and a fierce battle unfurls before our eyes. Though Zeus had warned the other gods not to take part in mortal matters till the Titans are released, he realizes his folly a fraction too late. The camera glides on from the combat between mortals to that between the gods and the Titans. In the midst of this we also see the individual clash between Hyperion and Theseus. Both do not survive the conquest but Theseus’ legend lives on to be passed onto his son whom he sired with Phaedra.

The movie reminds you of similar Greek epic movies like Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans. Theseus seems almost a duplicate of Perseus in his heroic endeavours. His relationship with Phaedra mirrors the one that Perseus shares with Io. Theseus also seems to be moulded into a version of a Superman of the bygone era for he is invincible. The only moment in which he seems human is when he faces Hyperion.

Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Luke Evans, Stephen Dorff, Freida Pinto, John Hurt, Isabel Lucas, Kellan Lutz, Joseph Morgan and Peter Stebbings comprise the cast. Cavill and Rourke do well as Theseus and Hyperion. Pinto makes a lovely Phaedra though her character disappears from screen soon after its purpose is served. The gods only get a few minutes of on-screen presence. Tat itself is a disappointment because their presence is overbearing in Greek myths.

One unique factor that the film displays is the immortals are not always immortal! The battle with the Titans proves this for we see that even the golden-robed Greek deities fall to their death. Singh had made full use of the luscious CGI effects and vertiginous camera angles in these sequences to make an interesting visual display for the audience. The dramatic landscapes with its historic architecture and brilliant skies hold us spell bound. However there are some scenes which are too dark and on which the 3D effects seem wasted.

The film has its fare share of violence. Torture and bloodshed is found aplenty so it is not suitable for young children. It is more for those who are fans of Greek and Roman myths but even they would find it disappointing because neither the story nor the character developments are up to standard. There is too much emphasis on the immortality and divinity of men’s souls for Immortals to generate much excitement.