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Immortals (2011)

Director: Tarsem Singh

Time Out rating

Average user rating

7 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

With his appealingly idiosyncratic, independently funded 2006 passion project, ‘The Fall’, Indian ad director Tarsem Singh suggested he might be the acceptable face of CGI-heavy epic fantasy. Scattershot as ‘The Fall’ was, its wildly inventive costume and set design and crafty tale-within-a-tale structure set it head and shoulders above blunt, beefy beat-em-ups like ‘300’, released the same year.

So it’s disappointing that, with ‘Immortals’, Singh has subsumed his tendency towards visual excess and narrative mayhem in the service of a dull, old-fashioned swords ’n’ sandals romp. New ‘Superman’ star Henry Cavill is Theseus, the muscular Greek fisherman’s son forced to take up arms when his peaceful province is invaded by the dastardly King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke), whose ultimate goal is to release the deadly Titans from their centuries-long imprisonment.

Exactly why Mad Mickey feels the urge to destroy the world remains obscure – but so does much else in this lazily scripted, plot-hole-happy mess. The dialogue is dire, vacillating between blunt heroic declarations – ‘Fight for honour! Fight for your future!’ – and clunky cod-Homeric poetry. But worst of all is the violence on display: considering no one over the age of 12 will find any of this remotely convincing, the number of beheadings, eviscerations and giant-polo-mallet castrations feels wholly inappropriate. ‘Immortals’ is occasionally redeemed by Singh’s directorial flourishes: a stunning costume, an incongruous set, an utterly bizarre and beautiful final shot. But this won’t be enough to save ‘Immortals’ from an unholy fate.

Author: Tom Huddleston

Time Out London Issue 2151: 10 – 16 November, 2011

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User reviews of this film

Simon said...

Posted on Mar 29 2012 14:28 Not as bad as some people say it is, but not great either. I kinda liked the first hour (great scene with Pinto and Cavill that will remind art lovers of Michelangelo's Piëta), but then it all turned into one big slaughterfest for man, beast and God.

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iLovefilms said...

Posted on Dec 03 2011 19:29 Its was better than 300, the visuals were great & the action was very well done. Enjoyed it for what it was, & the 3D was worth it. I'll be picking this up on 3D Blu Ray next year. Its a good/bad guilty pleasure type film which puts every other big summer film to shame... & Mickey Rourke smashed it as the evil king! 4 stars from me!

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jaycee said...

Posted on Nov 19 2011 21:56 This director is supposed to have a gift for visuals, but thi is cheap-looking, gaudy,cgi-afflicted rubbish, that somehow manages to look small - the polar opposite of Ridley Scott, who really does have a great eye..

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scrumpyjack said...

Posted on Nov 15 2011 11:31 Wanted to hate it but it's superior to the repetitive 300 and is in fact rather watchable crud. But crud it certainly is so after Norton in 30 months will do. But if you insist big screening it (bar the last shot) 3D is not required. 5/10

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ric said...

Posted on Nov 14 2011 07:43 Long cat & ian have said it all for me tbh.

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Ian said...

Posted on Nov 12 2011 20:07 Oh dear oh dear! What an absolute shambles. This is truly dire. The acting is so wooden it could have been an Ikea wardrobe. If this it the most emotion Cavill can display then I really fear for the new Superman.
Freida Pinto is almost as bad. There is no lead up to the trite and really rather contrived love story which seems to fulfill no other purpose than a cheap thrill of soft porn naked Pinto for teenage males who seem to be the films target audience.
Its so bad it almost gives Sucker Punch a run for its money in the awful cliched plot stakes.
How many more rubbish sandals, sex and gratuituous homo erotic male semi naked bonding films must we sit through before Hollywood gets the message. No more please no more.

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long cat said...

Posted on Nov 12 2011 18:05 It wont be an immortal film. Not a patch on 300 but just pointless violence throughout for what?. Why was Hyperion bent on effing up everything he came across. Some fight sequences were spectacular but near the end there seemed a lot more titans fighting than were in captivity in the opening sequences and Zeus - what use was he? No wonder he is consigned to myth, wouldn't intervene. The only memorable thing I came out with from this shambles was scenes of wanton brutality.

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