Immortals

Rating: 4/5

As you all should know, I can deal with stupidity in action movies. It doesn't matter how silly the story is, I can turn my brain off and enjoy some good-old-fashioned male power fantasy. For proof of this (if you really need some), see my reviews of The Wolfman 2010, and more recently Battle LA and/or Conan the Barbarian. Or you can just keep reading this one, because Immortals is a dumb movie that rocked my socks.

King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) is a mad atheist who a la Kratos from "God of War" wants to free the titans and overthrow the gods. In order to do this Hyperion needs a legendary weapon called the Epirus Bow, which he plans to find with the power of the virgin oracle Phaedra (Freida Pinto). On his rampage across Greece, Hyperion makes the mistake of murdering the mother of Theseus (Henry Cavill), who just so happens to be the mortal champion chosen by Zeus (Luke Evans). And of course, hijinks ensue.

Ok, first things first. Immortals is silly. The narrative is jumpy, the characters are all completely generic, and the acting and dialog are completely melodramatic and ridiculous. There are big moments that make no sense in that "Conan" kinda way where you just have to laugh. However, nothing gets so dumb that you can't enjoy the movie, and I had a blast the whole way through thanks to two things: the visuals and the action.

The visuals in Immortals are Oscar worthy. Tarsem Singh is clearly very gifted when it comes to this, something we saw in his first film, The Fall, which is brilliant. The sets are grand and real, the CGI is fantastic, and the costumes are unique and beautiful. Each one is incredibly creative and really, really cool. It breathes new life into Greek myths in a way Clash of the Titans only dreamed of. The action is 300-level awesome, but much better choreographed and with less slow-to-fast. Immortals is awesome.

Immortals is the perfect Thanksgiving movie. It's a great excuse to get together with friends and enjoy yourself at the movies, even if it's silly. Immortals knows what it is, and takes the stylization of 300, injects it with Tarsem's brilliant visual creativity, and never looks back. This is mostly a guy movie, but anyone who liked 300 or The Expendables will enjoy it. Of course, I'm really just recommending the mind-blowing visuals and action, but go see Immortals for a fun ride.