Thursday, February 09, 2012

Episode 1235: Immortals Is A Profoundly Pessimistic Film

So I went to see Immortals at the WSC (it was beginning to snow when I came out), and isn't it such a profoundly pessimistic film, at least insofar as what it says about human nature? The film basically sets out to demonstrate Mao's point that power comes from the barrel of a gun, or in this case, from the tip of a sword. When Cassander insists on negotiating with Hyperion, he is rewarded instead with violence (and eventually, death), the very violence that he sought to avoid. Granted, Cassander clearly wasn't intended to be portrayed in a flattering light in the film, but the message underlying his failure and Theseus's subsequent triumph over Hyperion remains one concerning the logic of force-as-power. Also, let's not forget Zeus's final conversation with Acamas at the very end of the film, which blatantly shows how the logic of violence is perpetuated from one generation to the next. Don't worry though, I didn't completely miss what presumably was Hollywood's intention for the film. I appreciate the copious amounts of CGI and aestheticised violence, masking the utter paucity of the plot, which managed to make even less sense than that of Clash Of The Titans. I also found it very funny that Henry Cavill's teeth are quite crooked, especially for someone who's obviously being groomed to join the ranks of a new generation of Hollywood leading men.

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