Immortals

(MA) Universal DVD/BD

The classically handsome Henry Cavill (soon to play Superman in the upcoming Man of Steel, due out 2013) stars here as Theseus, unsurprisingly shining in battle scenes but, alas, emotionally shut off.

Romance and friendship remain largely at surface level and the only time you really feel for him is during an early tragic event that shapes his desire for revenge.

One imagines that Mickey Rourke enjoyed playing the evil, marauding King Hyperion a little too much. He desires power and revenge against the gods and searched for the fabled “Epirus Bow” so as to unleash the Titans that Zeus locked away.

Only Theseus can stop Hyperion, and Zeus favours him, but the gods must not interfere in the doings of humanity.

Theseus may be a gargantuan dream of a man, with his leather miniskirts and perpetually fierce scowl, but he is no Luke Evans. Evans plays the almighty Zeus, comes across as a better-looking version of Orlando Bloom and is even a better actor. Pity he had to put up with the wooden Isabel Lucas as his “daughter”, the goddess Athena.

Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) as the beautiful, prophetic Oracle is nothing special but her loyal band of female bodyguards are exciting, fearless fighters. Theseus’ comrade Stavros (Stephen Dorff, Somewhere) is underused.

Despite great potential, some of Immortals’ battle sequences deliver, but many suffer from shoddy dialogue or anticlimax. Those that stand out are an intense fight between Theseus and a Minotaur, and a moment where the gods take on the Titans.

The latter sequence is just ridiculous — stylised violence at its best and most fun — and the exhaustion you may feel at the culmination of this film is almost worth it based on that moment alone.

Jasmine Edwards