“Let’s write history… with blood”
King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) is on a campaign to end the reign of the gods. He seeks out the legendary Epirus Bow so as to unleash the Titans and upset the Gods. Along the way he comes across a small village and kills Theseus’s (Henry Cavill) mother, therefore making a lifelong enemy in the process. Zeus looks to Theseus to rally mankind to stop King Hyperion and be the good man he knows he is.
Earlier this year I saw one of my still favourites of 2011, 13 Assassins, and Miike works really hard to assure everyone involved that the antagonist of the film is one of the most reprehensible characters in existence and no possible human being could find anything redeeming about him. Here Singh attempts to do the same but falling short due to one crucial scene that I felt the film could’ve done without where we are given some background information in a overused and unnecessary expository scene with Hyperion’s logic as to why he’s in this bloodlust of a mood that takes him across the lands of Greece killing anyone in his path. If it weren’t for that one scene the character of King Hyperion would be perfectly what I thought the film wanted. We want this dark evil man to be the one that Theseus, the man who fears no one as long as he knows his actions are right.
The dichotomy of good and evil is a common theme in film in general. What films like this love to do, and this one does it so well, is to show how similar that these men are. It takes only a mere push to take one man down one road in life and the other in the opposing direction. Both men wish for their actions to leave a mark on the world so that they will be remembered. The difference though is that King Hyperion wishes for him as a man to be remembered (showing vanity is the way of darkness) and Theseus wishes only for his deeds to be remembered (showing humility is the way of good). It’s a well formed literary simile, and is why I like this film a touch over other run of the mill action films.
With that said however, Tarsem Singh’s unique visual style is what’ll make this film stand out from the rest. The marketing makes you know that the film’s produced by the same people who brought you 300 and with the Greek angle, as well as some of the action style that Zack Snyder has made popular today, it can seem similar, but it isn’t the same. Singh is a lot more fantastical than Snyder’s cartoonish style. Singh has the same golden gleam but instead of the film feeling like an exaggeration – as Snyder does – it feels more like the real world with these Gods and Titans existing.
Rating: 8.0/10
It’s probably one of the best-looking films of the whole year (yet, I still haven’t seen Tree of Life) and the action is awesome and in-you-face which is something I always like. The story dragged on a bit and I couldn’t help but think that if the writing was a tweaked a little better, this would have definitely been a very solid film. Instead it was just fun and pretty to look at. Good review Andrew. Check out mine when you get the chance.
I told my male friend last night this movie wasn't made for him, it's eye candy because of the mostly male cast. That said, mmm, Henry Cavill.
That's like saying that 300 was made for women's enjoyment only. Action movies appeal to men because of the action and the women get to see muscle and oils… win win.