|
Pompeii
| Released |
30 April 2014 |
| Director |
Paul W.S. Anderson |
Starring
|
Kit Harington, Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje, Kiefer Sutherland, Emily Browning, Jessica Lucas, Jared Harris |
Writer(s)
|
Janet Scott Batchler, Lee Batchler, Michael Robert Johnson |
Producer(s)
|
Paul W.S. Anderson, Jeremy Bolt, Don Carmody, Robert Kulzer, Martin Moszkowicz |
| Origin |
Canada, Germany |
| Running Time |
105 minutes |
| Genre |
Action, adventure, drama |
| Rating |
12A |
|
|
Lava-tory.
I’ve been imagining a conversation between Pompeii star Kit Harrington and his agent. “Kit, baby! A script just landed on my desk that has your name all over it! You already know how to ride a horse, swing a sword and look moodily into the middle distance, plus you’ve only got about ten lines to memorise! The director? Paul W.S. Anderson....yes, he is rubbish but listen Kit, you have to keep your profile up! The way they keep knocking off characters in Game of Thrones, you could be next for the chop!You’ll take it? That’s my boy! You never know, if this goes well you might land a role in Resident Evil 6!” Seems plausible. Whatever that conversation actually sounded like though, taking the part really was a bad move for the Game of Thrones star.
The film takes place (strangely enough) in ancient Pompeii, just before the eruption that would destroy it. Harrington plays Milo, a slave of the Roman Empire who has been shipped from his native land to fight in the gladiatorial arena. Milo is a moody outsider with a deep hatred for the Roman Empire and a love of horses. His cold heart melts a little when his paths cross with Cassia (Emily Browning), a spirited young noble-woman. The pair fall for each other but their love and their lives are threatened when the volcano begins its eruption.
A good old fashioned disaster movie is nothing to be sniffed at - I like a little B-movie silliness and can be easily won over by spectacle but Pompeii lost my interest very quickly. Harrington is a charisma-less vacuum at the heart of the film, his serious squinting making him look more confused than haunted. Sure, he acquits himself well in a fight scene but a leading man he ain’t. In all the silly melodrama of the plot the one ray of sunshine is Kiefer Sutherland, who puts in the most entertainingly ludicrous performance I’ve seen for a while. As a Roman General who speaks as if he’s just getting used to a new set of dentures, he seems to be taking his cue from Michael Palin in The Life of Brian. It's a terrible performance that somehow tips over into campy fun.
Truthfully though, I was praying for the annihilation of everyone involved. Unfortunately, when the destruction came, that too was disappointing. Ropey CGI combined with light loss from the 3D visuals make everything look like a bad video game cut-scene. Adding these shoddy visuals to the general tedium of the plot makes Pompeii a disaster movie in every sense of the word.
-
Linda O’Brien |
