The best way to tick people off? Make a movie that completely trashes their culture and inaccurately portrays them.
This sort of controversy is especially true in the United States with it's dark and troubled upbringing that most people today still don't feel comfortable about talking about.
But on the lighter side, movies based around Greek mythology and/or history also tend to tick off specialists and researchers who spend their who lives studying the many tales of this nation. Some movies, such as the Hercules television show are accepted for entertainment value and allowed to live. Others, such as Troy with Brad Pitt and Eric Bana; Disney's Hercules; and Frank Miller's 300 have two people who call for those movie's destruction for every five who liked them.
In late 2011, another movie was released to similar treatment. Directed by Tarsem, I bring you Immortals.
First, I'm going to start off by saying that I loved this movie. It wasn't perfect, but it was pretty likable and somewhat energetic. I also liked that this presented in the tone of an interpretation instead an actual "This is how it happened" tone that earlier movies did. This way, I can take out that this is supposed to be based on Greek mythology and still enjoy the movie on face value.
I saw it at a local theater with my cousin as sort of an early birthday present and sadly missed the first few minutes of the movie. But from what I gather, I didn't miss so much that I wouldn't understand the movie. It also helped that my cousin was able to explain to me what I had missed.
The story follows a "very" loose adaptation of the Greek Myths, mainly borrowing from the Titanomachy, Theseus and the Minotaur, and a few unique tidbits from directer Tarsem. Theseus is a young man who is outcast for being the product of rape who is also subtly mentored by an old man(played by John Hurt) who is eventually revealed to by Zeus in disguise. Zeus and his fellow gods cannot directly intervene in the affairs of man and so Zeus is training Theseus to one day save the world from Evil King Hyperion.
Eventually, Hyperion's army finds Theseus' town and does what evil armies usually do to defenseless towns. Theseus tries to defend his home and mother in a very visually and engaging sequence where Theseus kills half of the troops before he is inevitably overwhelmed and forced to watch as Hyperion murders his mother before sending him to a Salt Mine to work himself to death.
Why didn't Hyperion recruit him?
Anyway, at the mine, Theseus comes across Nycomedes, a priest who cut out his own tongue, a thief called Stavros who is unusually good with weaponry, and a virgin oracle named Phaedra who foresees a possiblity of Theseus joining with Hyperion and bringing about the earth's doom. The night they all arrive, the Phaedra's guards/decoys set off a distraction that allows Theseus, Phaedra and their new companions escape and begin their quest to find the Epirus Bow before Hyperion does.
Without giving away too much, the story unfolds in ways that are predictable with a few surprises along the way. The only stand-outs amongst the cast that I saw were Stavros and Hyperion.
To me, Hyperion(played by Mickey Rourke) is almost a perfect villain. He has a sympathetic backstory detailing a general disgust with the absence with the gods for allowing his family to die. So he does what any rational person would do, turn evil, and decide to find a bow powerful enough to unleash the imprisoned titans and destroy the world. Despite his very clear cruelty and lack of care for human lives, he does have a warped sense of honor. When a captain from his enemies tries to join him, Hyperion treats the man with disgust for being a traitor and...did something that made me cringe.
Three key words: Giant Hammer Crouch.
Stavros is what you would expect from the unbelieving skeptical rogue. He doesn't turn away from how hopeless and grim the entire big picture looks and constantly recommends going in the direction that doesn't involve an agonizing death. But for some reason, he stays with the group and eventually forms a begrudging bond with Theseus and as circumstances whittle down the heroes numbers, Stavros is endearing enough to make you hope that he survives to the end.
Zeus' mindset may have some people call him an idiot, but he has the best of intentions. He believes that mankind has a strength that will allow them to grow stronger and that divine intervention will only stagnate that potential strength. There are even times when he himself may seem unsure of his convictions and is clearly struggling not to agree with the viewpoints of his fellow gods. To me, he is like a parent who sees his child walking through a troubled alley. The parent doesn't want the child to be harmed, but they know that the child needs to walk on their own to one day grow.
Not to say that everyone else was bad. Theseus is presented as an every-man and unlike most contemporary heroes, he mainly stays focused on his goal of killing Hyperion, even if he doesn't know how to accomplish that task. Zeus' fellow gods, Athena, Ares, Poseidon, and etc constantly argue with each other over the place of gods in the mortal world and whether it is right for them to intervene or not.
The setting makes for an interesting interpretation, a nice mixture of CG (Computer Graphics) and Actual sets show off bleak environments set across towns close to sheer cliffs, a landscape that tells the mood of despair, and in general helps tell additional tidbits of the story in addition to exposition and the characters.
The actions scenes are pretty cool and reminescent of the visual style of 300. But while that story was a comic based on an exaggeration of a historical event, this story places gritty details across the whole story and not just in the action scenes. The art design isn't completely unique, but it is effective at distinguishing the defenders from the bad guys and the mortals from the immortals.
So yes, I like this movie and I also believe that it is an effective interpretation of the greek myths it is based on. But due to a few major plot inconsistencies or oddities and some details about the interpretations of the actual minotaur and the titans, I would call it a decent movie, just slightly above average and barely borderline good.
If you want to watch a good action movie with a semi-plausible story, likable characters, and an interpretation of the Greek mythology, then go ahead and check out the movie. Otherwise, this is one story of Immortality that can be skipped without penalty.
