Immortals (Movie 2011)

A few weeks ago I went to go see Immortals, not just once but twice (because it was that good!) The first time I went to go see it 2D with my friend, and the second time I went with my dad and saw it in 3D. First comment – besides the KICK ASS fight seen between the Gods and the Titans at the end, there is really no need to pay the extra $5 (or in some cases $10) for 3D. You can just save that money for popcorn, trust me!

The story begins when the world was ruled by the gods and Titans.  Man was living side by side with the gods accepting that the gods would come down and interfere in their lives.

As time passed, the gods realized that although they were immortal they could die and this realization lead to violence and a huge battle broke out between the gods and Titans. During the battle the mightiest of all weapons was lost, the Bow of Epirus which could shoot unstoppable arrows at unbelievable speeds. Although a tragic lose, the gods still came out victorious and imprisoned the Titans under Mt. Tartarus and took their place on top of Mount Olympus watching time slip by.

Centuries pass and the gods watch as man grows and builds cities, evolving and spreading out across the country. Always watching, but never again interfering. Too many times had the gods gone to earth and changed the outcomes of situations, slept with human woman who then gave birth to demi-gods (such as Hercules). Now the gods agreed to stand aside and let man make their own choices.

Over time, King Hyperion (played amazingly by Mickey Rourke) has become a powerful man. He holds a deep seeded grudge against the gods who did not step in and save his wife and child as they slowly died to a nasty disease. Realizing that the gods no longer played a role in the lives of men or answered prayers, King Hyperion starts a mission to recover the Bow of Epirus and free the Titans so that they can destroy the gods who did nothing to save his family. Fueled by vengous, nothing can stop him.

This time is not only ruled by Kings and gods, but predictions from the virgin oracles are relied upon. One virgin oracle knows as Phaedra (played by Freida Pinto) foresees the future of King Hyperion and the Bow of Epirus, she sees Hyperion free the Titans and realizes that he is coming for her. Surrounded by her attendants, the four woman realize they have no choice but to try and flee before Hyperion arrives to keep the Phaedra safe.

**Side note – I like Freida Pinto, she is a beautiful woman, but I must say, her talent was completely wasted in Rise of the Apes. If her acting skill was looked upon only from that movie, you would think she was crap. Her character in Rise of the Apes, unlike in this movie, had no depth and was just a filler and the movie could have moved along fine without her. It was nice to see her have such a nice come back in this movie. But really, her agent should be pissed about the Rise of the Apes role. Such crap!**

The oracle and her protectors just have time to flee to safety as King Hyperion and his hundreds of thousands of men flood into the Sybelline Monastery imprisoning all who are in it and lay waste to every village in the area. Killing the pregnant woman and children and removing (very brutally) the manhood of the men.

In a remote ocean side village a few days ride from the Sybelline Monastery is a young attractive bastard man known as Theseus (played oh so well by the drop dead gorgeous Henry Cavil). Theseus is an only child of an unwed woman who was raped so within the village Theseus and his mother are looked upon as outcasts. Only one old man (played by John Hurt) has taken Theseus under his wing and trained him since a child in the ways of military battle. The old man has guided Theseus as he has grown to look upon the world with compassion as protect those who need it.

As word spreads to the village that the Hyperion army is only days away, the military trained men of the village take up arms and prepare to ride out to meet the army and protect the village. Theseus wanting to help protect his people, tries to get his mother in the first wave of refuges leaving the village, but he is laughed at. Lysander (played by Joseph Morgan) begins a fight with Theseus, thinking Theseus is just a humble slave. Theseus through all his years of training with the old man stands up and not only takes out Lysander but holds at bay 3 other soldiers until the captain steps in and stops them.  The Captain, seeing Theseus potential as a soldier offers him the opportunity to join his army. Theseus disgusted by how they treated his mother refuses and storms. The Captain then turns on Lysander, telling him to hand over his weapons and informs him that he will be saying behind tomorrow to help protect the slaves.

Later that night, the Old Man walks alone in the village. Suddenly he stops, he turns and calls out. No one appears. As if watching a dream, the Old Man form drops to reveal that of Zeus (played by Luke Evans – also yummy!). Zeus turns on the night and demands whoever is hidden there to reveal themselves. Athena (played by Isabel Lucas) steps out from her hiding place. She turns to her father and begs him to leave the boy, unable to understand why Zeus has taken such a liking to this young man while he refuses to show the same compassion towards his own children…towards her.  Zeus tries to explain to Athena, that he is not controlling Theseus but guiding him, because he will one day lead his people to victory. Unable to sway him Athena leaves and the Old Man is once again left alone in the village. 

But that is not the only thing happening that night. High in the tower two soldiers stand guard over the village looking out for Hyperion’s army.  Lysander joins the two guards speaking about how they have no chance against Hyperion’s army, he turns and kills both of the guards before they can set off the alarm. Lysander, a weak traitor runs to Hyperion at the Monastery and begs to join his army. Hyperion, humored by the weak Lysander accepts his oath of loyalty on one condition. Hyperion wants to spread his seed across the world, he wants generations to look upon the faces of their loved ones and see his resemblance, so in order to join Hyperion’s army…Lysander is de-manned (literally – the Minotaur the most feared of Hyperion’s minions [played by Robert Maillet] takes a huge sledge-like-hammer and with full force blows it into Lysander’s testacies and penis. Every man in the theater groaned and cried out with a shared agony that I cannot fully understand). The Minotaur not only de-man Lysander, but he also de-figures his face and forces him (like everyone in his army) to wear a mask.

Hyperion’s men spread out and come across Theseus’ village. While Theseus returning from a day of training along the rocks he hears the screams in the distance. Running towards his home he witnesses Hyperion slit his mother’s throat in front of him as he is held back, helpless to stop the blood flowing out of her neck and down her chest. Hope and determination leave Theseus as Hyperion condemns him to work until he dies in the salt fields.

Time passes – not sure how much really and the Hyperion’s soldiers that guard the salt field works somehow have come across the Oracle and her 3 protectors and they are also in the encampment before being sent back to the Monetary to face Hyperion.  After a long day in the fields, the prisoners come back to the building. Rushing to the water, all but Theseus drink up the cool liquid as the masked Oracle and her protectors walk into the court yard to drink. As she passes Theseus her foot touches his and she has a prediction. She sees him embracing Hyperion and holding the bow, she knows he must survive because he has an important role yet to play. She goes to the pool and taking water into her mouth she goes to Theseus and gives him water to drink.

The Oracle, knowing that they must escape sets a plan in motion. The 4 woman lure the guards into their room and proceed to kill them. As more men rush past the slaves to see what is going on the slaves (and Theseus) attack them. Only 3 slaves, a monk and the Oracle manage to escape into the night.

Watching from Mount Olympus, the gods are frustrated with Zeus for forcing them to stand on the sidelines while the humans dig themselves deeper and deeper into a hole. But Zeus reminds them, any god caught interfering in the affairs of the humans will be killed and any god appearing in their true form to a human will be killed.  Angry they sit back and watch as the humans continue to make mistakes

The head towards the port, the escapees: Stavros the thief (played by Steven Dorff), Daerios the solider (played by Alan Van Spring), Phaedra, one monk (played by Greg Bryk) and Theseus quickly realize that if they stick together they have a better chance of survival.

Meanwhile, the remaining 3 protectors of the Oracle are brought before Hyperion. He looks upon them and demands to know which one of them is the true Oracle. But their bonds of sisterhood are stronger than anything and with all 3 proclaim that they are the true Oracle, Hyperion’s hands are tied and he cannot kill any in fear that he may kill the real one. Until one of the soldiers lets slip that one of the Oracles escaped. Furious, Hyperion sends some of his soldiers to cut the small group of escapees off at the port and sends the 3 protectors to the bull (a horrendous torture device. A huge metal bull over a fire which when its victims are put into his hot belly burn alive as everything they touch inside the metal bull is scorching hot).

Arriving at the sea black with oil, they see a supply boat coming in. Theseus, who has taken leadership of the small group of outlaws, leads them down to the port. They easily kill the few soldiers, but it was a trap, Hyperion had guessed their move and more soldiers came flooding out from the underground storage unit. They corner the small group in the back of the boat and they have no chance of surviving.

Unable to sit aside anymore, Poseidon (played by Kellan Lutz) looks to Athena. She gives him an reassuring nod as he leaps off the Mountain and plunges down, trident held ahead of him, into the sea of oil. A huge wave wipes up and head straight for the small boat.  Remembering the wave from one of her visions, Phaedra tells them to stand strong. At the last moment the small group leaps to safety as Hyperion’s men are cared off into the sea.

Theseus realizes that he must go home and he must bury his mother, even if he does not believe in the gods, his mother did and he must respect that. The small group head to his village.

Hyperion, furious to hear that he was outmaneuvered at the port, he sends the Minotaur and a few soldiers to intercept them at Theseus’ village.

Theseus and the group make it to his village, he takes his mother deep into the labyrinth and lays her to rest. However while putting her body into the crypt he hits a metal object, unable to push his mother’s body in, he begins to dig the object out of the way. Low and behold, it is the Bow of Epirus. Turning to leave the labyrinth, he comes face to face with the Minotaur, Hyperion’s men have found them.

Theseus barely manages to survive as the Minotaur poisoned him, but he manages to kill the beast by beheading it. He finds his way back out of the labyrinth, just in time to save Phaedra, the monk and Stavros. As Theseus stagers to back to the village, he collapse, and Phaedra cares for him. Upon his recovery, the Virgin Oracle tells Theseus that she no long wishes to have the visions and Phaedra makes love to Theseus…losing her virginity and her gift.

The small groups of survivors make their way to the Monastery only to discover that it is a trap laid by Hyperion. Thankfully the gods come to their aid (Ares and Athena), however, Zeus comes down from Mount Olympus and scolds Ares and Athena…Zeus in his rage kills Apollo.  But the rescue came too late and a Jackal steals the Bow of Epirus from Thesus and takes it to Hyperion.

Now Hyperion has the bow…but Thesus’ encounter with the gods has made him a true believer.

The small group realize that with the bow, Hyperion is next to unstoppable, riding on two horse provided by Athena to join the last stand against Hyperion and his overwhelming forces. Arriving at the wall, Thesus tries desperately to convince the king that Hyperion has the Bow of Epirus and that they are in trouble, but the King, bind to the truth refuse to listen.

A battle occurs, thanks to the Kings stupidity, and Thesus leads the solider into battle. Hyperion uses the battle to slip into the Titans prion and he uses the bow to free them.  Realizing what Hyperion is up to, Thesus and Stavros rush to intervene, but they are too late. Stravos manages to retrieve the bow and throw it to Thesus before the Titans devour him, but Thesus stands not chance against the creatures from time long lost.

Suddenly the gods arrive from Mount Olympus ready to stop the Titans in their tracks, and while a war is going on outside Mt. Tartarus a battle between the gods and Titans is raging inside.

This movie was excellent. I don’t want to tell any more…I feel like people should go to this movie. It is worth seeing. I went to see it twice and loved it.  

I watched it in both 3D and 2D and honestly, save your money…the 2D is just as good. There are only a FEW scenes where you go…neat. But thing that is worth spending the extra money.