A film like Pompeii is hard to get hold of. That’s only because it is filled with one too many clichés, unrealistic action, predictable events and a very, very inaccurate portrayal of history. Although the random flying lava bombs at the end were absolutely thrilling, films as corrupt as that are very hard to make even with the worst director and screenwriter.
The film starts off with an innocent young boy witnessing his parents, along with a large tribe of horsemen, being killed off by the, oh so scary, Romans, then, having their headless bodies hung off branches. The young boy then grows to become the voluptuous, broad shouldered Milo played by Kit Harington who also plays the well-loved character Jon Snow in The Game of Thrones.
Nowadays a film just isn’t a film without a splash of romance is it? Cassia, a main character in the movie played by Emily Browning, happens to be in a carriage when she sees some slaves being lead on the side of the road. Coincidentally, the first slave she notices is Milo who also happens to kill her injured horse which was, in her eyes, the ‘kindest’ thing to do considering the horse’s situation. And, she instantly falls in love with him just because of this. I’m not sure Cassia was aware of the fact that even if he didn’t kill the horse, someone other than him would have eventually done the same as the horse’s injury was far too severe to be cured at the time. Does this mean that Cassia would also fall in love with that other person? I hardly believe so.
Moving forward swiftly, Milo eventually meets a man named Atticus. This is probably the movie’s success point as the director, most surprisingly, managed to build up on their friendship. Their relationship starts off with conversations about how they will kill each other but soon they start looking out for each other and fight together as a team. I, frankly, think that Atticus is the best character as he displays less stupidity than the others. The only thing I found quite annoying was his death. Atticus gets stabbed in the gut with a 12 inch sword. The sword handle then gets broken off and the 12 inch blade is stuck inside him. Despite this fact, approximately 3hrs after the blade is stuck in him he is still talking and giving a very motivational speech to those about to die. I mean seriously? I doubt anyone his age could survive more than 4-10mins with blood flowing out at a constant speed.
There is also a point in the movie where Cassia, the daughter of a very wealthy man, decides to run away with Milo. This happens near the beginning of the movie when the volcano’s warning tremors can be felt and Cassia’s other horse is going frantic. She then asks personally for Milo to help her with the horse. It is flabbergasting how a Cassia, who at this point, has only seen Milo from afar about 3 times, could become dependent on him even though he is still a stranger to her. After Milo consoles the horse, he offers Cassia to run away with him. She accepts. After seeing him only 3 times. He then goes through the trouble of causing a commotion by theatrically blasting doors open and galloping away on a white horse with Cassia. But, after travelling less than 10 miles, he decides that he wants to go back in order to protect Cassia, a girl whom he doesn’t know, from getting into trouble when it is actually him who will be risking his life by going back as he could easily be executed for kidnapping a wealthy woman. The scene was, putting it bluntly, made to help only to fill the 2hrs that the movie has to last for as it did not really make a difference to the main plot. This is the point in the movie where I face palmed myself and wished the director would have made Milo and Atticus fall in love rather than Cassia and Milo as the director had actually bothered to build up a relationship between the first two making it seem more realistic.
Finally, Vesuvius happens. I’m not going to lie- the graphics for this were amazing. But it was not historically accurate. The eruption was filled with coal black ash clouds, fireballs randomly falling from the sky and the sky was also raining ash. Buildings were breaking down and loads of people died. It was hectic and a lot of money was probably spent making it. The fireballs were a little over top. It seemed as if Satan had gone to the heart of Hell picked his best, biggest lava rocks, enlarged them in the seven different fires in Hell and gave them a tiny bit more power from his own power and ran all the way to Earth and threw them down on Pompeii. He then ran back to hell again and did the same thing about 500 times for the different scenes. In the real eruption there was lava and ash but, as undramatic as it is, there were no fireballs or Satan.
The audience’s amazement at the graphics then quickly wears off when they realise how the film ends. Milo tries saving Cassia and himself by travelling on the horse away from the eruption. Soon, he gets off the horse and tells Cassia to go on without him as the horse will be too slow to get away with both of them riding. Cassia, however, refuses and decides she would rather die with him in the eruption and tells the horse to go and save himself. The horse runs off cleverly saving himself. The love birds die. Kissing. The ending certainly had many people cringing.
Look on the bright side. At least the horse had enough sense to save himself.
Overall- I didn’t like the movie. (As you’ve probably realised)
Don’t let me discourage you. The film will have you laughing in your seats even if it is for the wrong reasons and unintentionally. Rather, I encourage you to go and watch the movie yourself and gather your own opinion. ?
Rating:
Considering the fact not all was bad: the graphics and the scene setting were impressive, we can award it two stars.
And maybe half a star for the film’s sheer stupidity.
All together, the film deserves two and a half stars.