MINOR SPOILERS:
For anyone familiar with his earlier movies, it should be fairly obvious that director Paul W.S. Anderson has never been one for subtlety, nuance, or any significant substance in his work. And true to predictable form, Anderson’s latest special effects-laden extravaganza, Pompeii, is no different. Whether it’s the increasingly insufferable Resident Evil franchise or such masterful flops as The Three Musketeers 3D or Alien Vs. Predator, Anderson doesn’t exactly have the greatest track record but he does do some things well: he’s always possessed a certain flair for cool visuals and he does have a knack for great action sequences. So in a way, Pompeii makes sense for a filmmaker of his, albeit limited, talents. The premise is nice and simple and could have made for a decent little movie; it’s the execution that’s ultimately the downfall of almost every aspect of Pompeii.
Based on the actual infamous volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 that buried the ancient city of Pompeii and preserved its inhabitants under layers of ash and molten lava, any historical accuracy with regards to this movie ends there. We follow the story of Milo (Harington), a gladiator and last of a long line of proud Celtic horsemen, a line ended by the brutal murder of his entire family at the hands of the Romans. A strong and silent type that we’ve seen countless times before, Milo’s fighting skills become legendary and they soon earn him the opportunity to go before a much bigger audience in Pompeii. It’s there that he will collide with destiny, seek his freedom, and get revenge on the evil and cruel Romans. And oh, lest we forget, it is also there that he will meet the generic and bland woman of his dreams. And that’s pretty much it.
Apart from being incredibly unoriginal and remarkably boring, the thing that stands out the most in Pompeii is the general laziness of the narrative and the storytelling. Aside from the obvious and endless similarities between it and Gladiator, this movie puts very little effort in building its characters or giving them anything resembling a three-dimensional genuine personality. While on the road to Pompeii, Milo meets his love interest Cassia (Browning), an aristocratic young and beautiful lady who reviles all things Roman and also happens to have 21st century morals and sensibilities for good measure too. And because we didn’t have enough clichés already, Pompeii proceeds to give us a good old-fashioned story of forbidden love. Him a sexy brooding gladiator, her a kind-hearted lady of noble lineage caught in the clutches of evil Senator Corvus (Sutherland), a man who also conveniently happens to be the Roman commander who ordered the massacre of Milo’s family all those years ago. That set-up is just one of many examples of how Pompeii paints everything in the broadest and most basic strokes. And onwards we carry on as the filmmakers continue to go through the motions. Milo becomes enemies with the best gladiator in town, a man who is on the brink of freedom, but of course, they end up becoming the best of friends. Milo and Cassia bond over their love of horses, but this soon attracts the ire of Corvus, as he attempts to orchestrate Milo’s death in the arena through a mock battle retelling of his famous suppression of Milo’s people (another one of many plot points “borrowed” from Gladiator). Corvus's bullying ways don't just stop at Milo: the people of Pompeii are portrayed as long-suffering subjects of the cruel and brutal Romans, all of whom are pure evil of course. All of this is uninspiring stuff to say the least and some of the casting choices here are disastrous. The two leads exude zero chemistry and zero personality and Kiefer Sutherland stands out in particular as he waltzes around in Roman armor with a bizarre semi-British accent that comes and goes from scene to scene.
The relentless nonsense of one of the weakest and most passionless love triangles in recent memory continues throughout the runtime, but it isn’t until the second half that the film slightly redeems itself as the inevitable wanton death and destruction that we all knew was coming finally arrives. And how did we know it was coming? Just to make sure we didn’t forget about that pesky volcano looming ominously in the background, the camera pans back and shows us the aforementioned CGI-rendered volcano over and over and over again. And then it shows us it a couple more times just to double check and make sure that even the most ADD-ridden viewer remembers it’s there. Once the volcano begins to erupt and the action starts in all of its cheesy hokiness, the movie finally starts to have some fun. Cue heroic dashes to save damsels in distress, epic battles to the death, villains getting their comeuppance, and just some good old general mayhem as people frantically and desperately try to outrun the volcano’s reach. All this of course, is neutered by the fact that this film is rated PG-13, a decision that takes away somewhat from the perverse fun that a disaster movie is supposed to be. As exciting and pulsating as the action is however, it’s bogged down by the fact that the movie is still obsessed with resolving the dramatic soap opera of its weak characters. We watch as Milo and Cassia try and foil all the elements pitted against their love, and watch as the good guys win their “symbolic” freedom, but none of it resonates. Put simply, the filmmakers just can’t expect us to care about what happens to these people when they didn’t care about developing them in any meaningful way in the first place. And yet, the movie sets up all of these dramatic moments in the midst of the action in the hopes that we’ll care anyway. Good luck with that.
Verdict: There’s two ways of looking at Pompeii: as a love story set in the backdrop of inevitable tragedy or as an epic and intense disaster film. Unfortunately, this derivative and lazy Gladiator/Titanic hybrid is a resounding failure either way.
Trailer:
Movie info:
Runtime: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Cast: Kit Harrington, Emily Browning, Kiefer Sutherland, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Screenplay: Janet Scott Batchler, Lee Batchler, Michael Robert Johnson
Cinematography: Glen MacPherson
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