Movie review: Immortals. Starring: Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Frida Pinto, John Hurt. Directed by Tarsem Singh. (Published in The Marshall Independent TV Guide.)
Years ago at a graduate school party I was having a typical grad student discussion of Deep Stuff with some Asian fellow-grads about Western Civilization.
Trying to explain what I thought was the basis for the self-identification of North Americans and Europeans as “Western” I said, “No matter where our ancestors came from, if we are Western then in some essential way we are all Hebrews and we are all Greeks.”
Once upon a time when I was young, all students were exposed to the Greek myths at least a little by the end of grade school. I am no longer sure if that’s true, which is why I welcome movies based on the Greek myths reintroducing another generation to some of the founding traditions of our civilization.
When you translate ancient myths into novels or movies, there are several options open to you.
You can use special effects to recreate the fantastical elements of the classical myths and do a fairly straightforward story based on the myth, perhaps with some modifications for modern audiences. This was done brilliantly in Ray Harryhausen’s “Jason and the Argonauts” (1963,) and pretty well in “Clash of the Titans” in 1981, and not quite as well but with the benefit of CGI in 2010.
You can euhemerize the story. Euhemeros was a Greek who lived in the 4th century BC. He theorized that myths were fantastic or allegorical accounts based on real historical events and people. Euhemerization is a kind of back formation based on a theory of what the real people and events that inspired the myths might actually have been.
This is how poet Robert Graves treated the story of the argonauts in his novel, “Hercules My Shipmate,” portraying a world of men motivated by fear of angry gods and vengeful ghosts, and banded together in fraternities with totems such as the horse (“centaurs,”) or goat (“fauns.”)
You can take a mythological character and the broad outlines of his legend and create a whole new series of adventures for him. Such as the lightweight but fun Kevin Sorbo “Hercules” TV series. One may always hope this will motivate some kids to look up the original myths.
And lately there has been a science fiction approach to the myths, where the gods are interpreted as aliens or inter-dimensional beings who inspired the myth makers.
This was the approach used in an original Star Trek episode, “Who Mourns for Adonis?” and recently in the Marvel Comics production “Thor.”
Or you can totally disregard the original story, rip off a few names from mythology, and call it ancient Greece.
That was what director Tarsem Singh did in this piece of dreck, “Immortals.”
There is no resemblance to the myths of Theseus (and by the way, the correct pronunciation is “Thee-soos,” not “Thee-see-us,”) Phaedra, or Hyperion.
There is a plot of sorts, the quest of the hero for a Weapon of Power that Unleashes Unimaginable Evil.
There are a lot of predictable developments you’ve seen before. Not necessarily a bad thing, myths are stories told again and again that we never get tired of. When the hero and the love interest, in this case a virgin prophetess (a al “The Scorpion King,”) consummate their attraction for each other this early in the movie, you know the hero is going to die in the end after fathering a son (“Terminator.”)
But mostly nothing hangs together. Plot developments are introduced, and just left hanging.
Theseus isn’t the son of a princess and either a king or the god Poseidon, His mother was raped and is the village cast-off. King Hyperion reveals he hates the gods because his family all died in a plague, and he was a peasant like Theseus who worked his way up to king and war lord. Phaedra the prophetess gives herself to Theseus because foresight is an intolerable burden, etc.
And what is done with these admittedly intriguing plot lines?
NOTHING! Zero, zip, nada.
On the other hand there are lots of good fight scenes, Henry Cavill is hunky, and Frida Pinto is definitely easy on the eyes. Treat it as eye-candy and you’ll be OK with it. But if it’s the Greek myths you want, find a DVD of “Jason and the Argonauts” for your kids.