Immortals Directed by: Tarsem Singh Starring: Henry Cavill, Freida Pinto, Mickey Rourke, Kellan Lutz, Stephen Dorff Rating: NR Release Date: November 11, 2011
TRAILER SCORE: 4/10
Thoughts by TSR: Forgive me for not being impressed by the gods. After all, while they may be invincible and have superpowers, they make boring movies. Clash of the Titans pretty much sucked, and since it is brought into fair play by this trailer, 300 did even more so. Sword and sandal movies have evolved visually since years ago, with the help of special effects and every cinematographer's desire to shoot the story as if it were happening in a land with no sun. But who knows if they've gotten any more exciting.
Enter director Tarsem Singh, a mere mortal with a sporadic filmmaking career. He's the director of that freaky Jennifer Lopez movie The Cell, and the slightly overrated visual feast The Fall (the little girl was annoying). Working with a story that seems to be Clash of the Titans-esque, it seems like he's gone the color palette of 300 with the extravagant but ultimately lame action of Clash of the Titans. Shooting four arrows from far away into some bad guys? That's not cool. That's Wanted "bullet curling" stupid. Of course, Singh will be tested with the film's final product. But the spare moments of visuals in this brief look that are meant to look cool (people fighting in the sky?) aren't jaw dropping.
On top of this, the main attraction of this trailer might be Henry Cavill. If you've been on IMDb in the last month you'd know that Cavill is going to be the number Superman, as directed by Zack Snyder in Man of Steel. It's hard to judge much of his charisma here, but I'm cringing at his delivery of the line, "Today! We fight for honor!" It sounds like he's stretching himself. It doesn't sound tough, but more like a geek with school pride making a bit of a fool of himself at a pep rally.
Also, what's with Mickey Rourke's venus fly trap helmet? And what's with Mickey Rourke being in the movie at all? The gods chose curiously.