POMPEII
Starring Kit Harington, Emily Browning
Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson
It wasn't so long ago that any movie star who dared show their face on a weekly television series was derided for slumming. Now, in this new golden age of television, a move to the big screen often represents a step down for actors accustomed to quality episodic storytelling. For instance, Aaron Paul will soon get the post-Breaking Bad phase of his career off to an inauspicious start with video game adaptation Need for Speed. In the meantime, Kit Harington abandons Game of Thrones' rich mythology for a sword-and-sandals adventure-romance that's script could've easily been dashed out on a napkin.
Shipped off to Pompeii in 79AD, enslaved gladiator Milo (Harington, making good use of his gym membership) experiences love-at-first-vacant-stare with rich girl Cassia (Emily Browning). Alas, she's also being romantically pursued by a Roman senator (Kiefer Sutherland, overacting with a vengeance) who just happened to have brutally murdered our hero's family. (It's a conveniently small world sometimes.) Meanwhile, Mount Vesuvius is growing ornery while waiting in the wings.
Thanks to recorded history, there's little suspense regarding how this all plays all out. And thanks to this being another unabashed B-movie from Paul W.S. Anderson (of Resident Evil infamy), there's nothing so pretentious as character development, subtext or themes. While this ensures that you have no investment in Pompeii other than the price of admission, Anderson's knack for composing inspired 3D visuals ensures that costumers get what they paid for. It may offer only sporadic entertainment in its opening sections but it raises its game when it comes to raining down destruction, ultimately delivering the sort of spectacle tailor-made for multiplex screens.
