[/caption]Carol Forsloff - For those who are still waiting to see the film Immortals, get in line for Puss in Boots instead. If your ambition is to see Mickey Rourke in action, check out now, or again, his film The Wrestler, as his recent role in Immortals is neither a fair display of his talent nor even a good story. Worse, it is ethically bankrupt.
Rourke plays King Hyperion whose goal is complete power in a Greek kingdom where the gods smile not upon the people but oversee and participate in the violence that is the major part of the film. For viewers who enjoy blood splatters in 3D, decapitation, torture, and a continuous array of horror that portrays the worst of man, this film has an endless supply.
Immortals is a dark film, offers no beauty and no relief from violence, and no significant moral value, unless it is the hero overcoming the villain after all. The hero is Theseus, who as a mortal man selected by the Greek god Zeus, leads the fight against the ruthless rampage of King Hyperion. King Hyperion seeks the oracle who can help him in his quest. But protected by Theseus, the oracle surrenders her virginity to her champion and thus loses her ability to tell the future. Viewers get the graphic, nude sex scene as a respite from the blood. Still, the war rages across the screen, until even the gods must intervene. The intervention came too late, however, for the film itself, which had no point and no redemptive element to save it from itself.
Worst of all, the final scene opens the door for more like this, with the son of Theseus standing before the statue honoring his father, as he sees himself in the future as the warrior prince, while the audience is left with violent visions too. As Todd Gitlin writes, “To be loathsome, popular culture doesn’t have to be murderous.” In this case the film Immortals is both.
