POMPEII: SO SO SWORD & SANDAL

It wasn't all that long ago or at least it feels that way, that Hollywood suddenly remembered the sword and sandal films of the sixties and began making them all over again. There were some great films made too, in particular GLADIATOR and TROY. Then the genre died out again or found itself taken over by ridiculously low budgeted reproductions of those popular films. It went back to the shelf. Now director Paul W.S. Anderson tries to bring it to life again with POMPEII. Unfortunately the film falls somewhere between those two types of films, the good and the bad.

The story revolves around Milo who as a child watches as his parents and entire tribe of Celt horsemen are slaughtered by the Romans led by General Corvus (Keifer Sutherland) and his right hand man Proculus. Pretending to be dead, young Milo climbs from under the bodies of those who were slaughtered only to later be captured and placed into slavery.

Years go by and Milo (Kit Harington) grows to be a fighter in ancient Britannia. When he catches the eye of one of the promoters for gladiatorial fights in Pompeii, he is taken back to that ancient city. Along the way he encounters Cassia (Emily Browning) when one of the horses pulling her carriage falls. He catches her eye not just because of his looks but because he puts down the horse in the most humane way possible.

Cassia gets to Pompeii before the slaves on their way. It turns out that her father Severus (Jared Harris) is the ruler of the city. Severus is trying to promote the city into a minor version of Rome and is aided in doing so by his wife Aurelia (Carrie-Anne Moss). While pleased to see their daughter home once more they have yet to find out why she came back from Rome. That is explained later when now Senator Corvus arrives to negotiate with Servus for assistance to rebuild the city. Of course, he uses his desire to marry Cassia to eventually seal the deal.

Meanwhile Milo finds himself in the slave quarters of the gladiators and a target of another slave whose brother he killed. While he survives that the odds of his surviving the arena are slim, even more so when the plan is to have him face off against his cell mate Atticus (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), a slave who is about to win his freedom if he defeats his 19th opponent. The pair square off during practice when an attempt is made once more on Milo only to be stopped by Atticus. While each knows they will one day face off against one another in the arena, a bond develops between the two.

In the background of these stories is the mountain that rises above Pompeii that seems to be developing into eruption mode. Since we know the story of Pompeii there is little suspense formed by this except wondering just when it will finally blow.

A change in plans in the arena has Milo and Atticus united to face off against the Romans. It's at this time that Corvus makes known his intentions for Cassia to her parents. It also happens to be when things begin to happen with the mountain filling the next 30-40 minutes with tons of special effects and carnage. Even with all of that happening a final face off between good guys and bad must take place.

Shot using tons of green screen the movie does a good job of making you believe you're looking at an ancient city, but then again used as much as it is your belief starts to dwindle after a while. The explosive effects of the last portion of the movie are well made but at the same time stretch your ability to suspend belief as the main characters all just fall short of being engulfed in flames, fireballs, earthquakes or floods.

The acting has no standouts here and is fair for the most part. Surprisingly the one performance that disappointed me the most was from Sutherland whose English accent in a movie set in ancient Rome falls flat. Browning's performance as Cassia lacks the depth and believability to carry off the story. Part of that is due to the love at first sight story telling that has her fall for Milo without any hesitation whatsoever.

On the whole POMPEII isn't a terrible movie but it isn't a really good one either. It's one of those movies you probably won't be too disappointed in seeing if you like the genre, but not one that you'll want to revisit again after watching. As I watched the movie I kept thinking back to how great movies like SPARTACUS and GLADIATOR really were. When you think of another movie you want to see again while watching the one in front of you, it's not a sign of how good that movie is.

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