Review By: Holly Shanks from KCFV
February 2014
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| Image: Wikipedia |
Except, at some point during this film I realized something changed. It started making me feel something. Not one emotion in particular, but a captured combination of mind, heart, compassion, and empathy. It had simply made me - feel.
In today’s cinematic world, the reign of high speed, constant movement, and twisting plots dominate the screens. The idea of a predictable and a bit cliché story should not really resonate. Right? Think again. The theater was packed with people who must have gotten caught up in the story like I did.
As I munched on my popcorn, I found myself rooting for the boy turned man. I wanted him to win against the big ol’ Roman mean machine, save the girl, and get the heck out of the city that was inevitably about to crumble and burn.
Apparently, so was the crowd I was sharing the theater with. They actually cheered as one of the bad guys met his well-deserved and brutal end at the hand of a betrayed older Gladiator.
The plot was simple and familiar, but grabbed the humanity of the situation in several ways.
The bitterness of the enslaved Gladiator with nothing to lose was nicely done by Kit Harington (Game of Thrones). I thought he pulled off a deep brooding intensity and the arena fight scenes unexpectedly well. I simply did not picture him as being able to play a Gladiator. But, I’m happy to report I was wrong. He did his job and brought the hero to life. He made me want to slap the snot out of his captors and hope he killed them all.
Let’s see, how to say this, I really thought Kiefer Sutherland was the wrong pick to play the typical corrupt Roman senator with a tendency of brutality. Sutherland’s vampire villain in the 1980s “The Lost Boys” was one bad vamp I loved to hate, but pulling off a Roman? I simply did not see him being able to do that. However, I have to say, for the most part, I liked his performance. He has aged and came across in a ruthlessly mature and arrogant manner. It worked.
The visuals are beautiful and dramatic in this film. The graphics were amazing. The streets of Pompeii were exactly what I would envision the Roman city and people might have looked like.
I’m not a real big fan of the new 3-D movement going on right now. However, when the floating ash and later the fiery bombs of molten rock and debris start spitting and flying off the screen at a viewer, it makes you think about the situation. The sizzle of burning skin makes some of the scenes gruesomely complete.
Human nature cannot defeat Mother Nature. The city lives in the shadow of the rumbling mountain and is helpless against it. People were the main story that caught me. Thousands of people died in the volcanic eruption. Thousands of people that each had a story to tell.
What would you do to survive? Would you kill a good man or even a friend if needed? What lengths would you go to for love or revenge? What would you give for even a slight moment of kindness from a stranger if burning ash was blacking out the air around you and your child?
Those are some of the questions I saw Hollywood tackle in the new movie “Pompeii.”
It has been a long time since any movie made me root for the bad guy to get squashed like a bug. The good guy to defeat the undefeatable, find his freedom and walk away with true love. All this I felt while already knowing the plot before the movie even started. And it did not involve any car chases or caped heroes crashing in from the sky to save the day.
Only one thing made the ending a bit sour and left me disappointed. Don’t worry, I won’t give the entire thing away.
If a super-heated pyroclastic cloud, bone-melting in intensity, happened to be racing toward me and I was in the arms of the handsome man that had just saved my life, what kind of last kiss would you expect?
I can tell you that I certainly would not expect a delicate, un-passionate, series of small kisses that seemed meant for middle-school tweenies' instead of a man and woman who might be getting ready to die.
What would I want and expect is an intense and impassioned plea of desperation expressing itself through lips and bodies clinging to each other. Soul-searching and longingly tender all at the same time. A kiss that represented the lifetime of love the couple would never get to experience.
If you’re in mood for that kind of story – then “Pompeii is one you should see.
I give “Pompeii” an eight out of ten. I liked it. It is a beautifully told tragic story. One of many wrapped in the countless tales of humanity’s history.
To view on the KCFV Tumblr page click the link below
http://895thewavestl.tumblr.com/post/77363416786/pompeii-whats-old-is-new-again
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