Z/Web

The trailer for this made it seem absolutely dreadful, but I was still slightly curious and it’s the type of film I’d see regardless of my expectations. To my shock, it’s actually quite good. I enjoyed it very much. The visuals are stylish and unusual and worth the price of admission. I wasn’t as enthralled with the story, which is overly convoluted and too predictable, but the writing and performances were done so well that it was entertaining to watch. Mickey Rourke was terrific as the bad guy King who’s waging war against our peasant hero. He utterly evil and cruel, yet mesmerizing. The rest of the cast was terrific, too, which surprised me because in the trailer the acting seemed very poor. But the trailer’s all lines of dialog taken out of context and that’s why it feels so awkward. In the film, the lines actually work.

There’s definitely a “style over substance” feel to this film, but there’s nothing wrong with that. A few times the style is too much. It’s usually over-the-top, but occasionally it outdoes itself. For instance, there was one transition from a face mask to a rowing boat — clearly digitally altered so that the mask morphed into the moving boat. Clever and interesting, but there was no point to the effect. The scene was not dramatic or critical, and a transition wasn’t important, so it seemed superfluous.

But I reserve my main criticism for the story, which has lots of interesting aspects, but doesn’t explain enough and doesn’t properly explore some of the philosophical questions it raises. For example, Zeus has a law forbidding interfering in the lives of humans — yet he seems to do it himself with impunity. The other gods seem very interested in helping out the humans, too, which seems to run counter to what we know of the Greek gods (who were passive and selfish). I didn’t at all understand how these “immortal” gods could die, either (since that would make them mortal and by definition they wouldn’t be gods).

This isn’t a classic film or great literature. It’s not even quite up to the heroics of 300, though it has a similar feel and a lovely, distinctive style. But it is enjoyable, unusual, and the rich visuals and wonderful sets more than make up for other lacks. Definitely surprising and much better than I expected.