Pompeii

Zach Goodier

Kit Harrington (Jon Snow from Game of Thrones) stars as a Celtic survivor of a Roman slaughter of his tribe.  Remembering the aspiring general who led to assault, he is surprised to see him again after being sent from Britannia’s fighting pits to the coliseum at Pompeii.  Now, he sees his chance for revenge; however, in the midst of all of this, he meets a woman returning home from Rome, and a fellow gladiator from Africa who seeks to win his freedom.

 

Which one is Jon Snow? Trick question, they both are, in essence.  Feeling of alienation from a young age? Check.  Treated mostly like garbage from birth? Check.  Treated like even worse garbage as he gets older? Check.  Only real difference is Milo might actually know something.

Story:

There really isn’t a whole lot of depth to this story, beyond the tale of revenge and the Gladiator-inspired plot.  There’s nothing wrong with taking inspiration from a great movie, but this really didn’t add much of anything to call its own, beyond the eventual cataclysm that we all associate with the name Pompeii.  So it really isn’t until the 3^rd act that we start to see something aside from a near carbon copy of a classic movie most of us have already seen.  However, it does offer some decent action, and add a few moments here and there to make this just separated enough from Gladiator to avoid being accused of copyright infringement. 

 

I never saw this part coming.

The biggest let-down for me was the ending, which I won’t spoil, except to say that it was a real disappointment, and really made the entirety of the conflict feel essentially pointless.  I’m not sure if they were hoping to play it off like Game of Thrones, where outcomes are generally on the bleak side, but this film lacks the depth of story and characters to pull off an ending like that.

Characters:

Since I brought them up, let us discuss the characters themselves.  Kit Harrington’s Milo was a fairly 2-D action hero protagonist.  I believe the fault lay with the writers, but perhaps Kit brought in too much Jon Snow to this role, but both characters felt very similar in terms of concept, just with Milo being fairly cliché.  Atticus is Milo's "frienemy" throughout the earlier parts of the film, with their bond forging in a steady, but believable fashion that makes their relationship a necessity as much as a cornerstone for the plot.

Corvus is hailed as a hero of Rome for slaughtering
 Milo's helpless people.

Kiefer Sutherland plays the Roman general, Corvus, who carries a very strong swagger throughout the film that befits the character.  However, I wasn’t rushing to hand out an Oscar.  Several other recognizable faces appear as supporting cast members, which helps this movie really feel more up to par in terms of characters and motives, which are numerous.

The love interest, Cassia, is very well portrayed as a girl struggling with the needs of her family, herself, and trying to escape from the corruption that has run rampant in Rome, which Corvus is a major part of.  All in all, you’ve probably seen what equates to this movie before, considering almost all of the major plot points were taken from other works.

The romance was never really that believable for me.  Mostly because it runs with the "love at first sight" notion, where she immediately feels an attraction from seeing him mercy kill a horse.  While I do agree in context it was the right thing to do, that generally doesn't make me fall in love over the corpse of a horse.

Visuals:

The visuals were very good, and likely ate up a hefty amount of money, but the work shows.  As a disaster movie, the visuals are must, and they really come together in a big way here.  However, the disaster element doesn’t even come up much until very late in the film, so in truth, this isn’t much of a disaster film.  The majority of the movie impresses with detailed set-pieces and excellent costume design, both of which deserve a tip of the hat.  However, it is the fight choreography that surprised me.  While it wasn't the best fighting I've seen, I honestly wasn't expecting the quality I saw, with Kit probably putting some of his down-to-earth training from GoT to use in this film, resulting in a tough, but believable, fighting style that resonates throughout the film.

Overall:

Supporting cast includes Carrie Anne-Moss Jared Harris.

This film tries to be a Gladiator rehash for the first 2/3rds, then sudden change gear and turn into a disaster film with wild tsunamis and fireballs raining from the sky.  It really doesn’t work as the first because it has no original story or characters to offer, and it doesn’t work as the later because by the time you get to the disaster portion, the film is already too established as a revenge/romance story to really come off as a disaster film.  In truth, I felt bad for the actors who worked on this film.  I feel like all of them have done much better work, so I assume this project was simply the victim of bad writing and directing.

Still, don’t let this be a stern lecture on why you wouldn’t want to see this movie, because you might.  I went in expecting a disaster film, then a revenge film, then a gladiator film, before it finally turned into the disaster film I expected in the first place.  In short, don’t go in expecting anything.  Don’t expect an original story.  Don’t go in expecting deep, well imagined characters.  Don’t go in expecting anything besides what the film is, and you’ll likely find yourself enjoying it, but soon forgetting it.

Good:

-Milo and Atticus make a believable and interesting duo throughout the film.

-Great Effects and set pieces.

-Some good action supported by believable and exciting fight choreography. 

-Decent cast, both main and supporting.

Bad:

-Nobody is truly at their best, I blame bad directing/writing.

-Spends 2/3rds of the film as a revenge/gladiator film, then suddenly remembers it has an obligation to be a disaster film and has to change direction.  This should have either focused on being an action film or a disaster film, not both.

Scully Rating: 6.5 out of 10