Pliny Quotes and Euphemisms: Pompeii

I'll admit, I was very..apprehensive...about going to see Kit Harrington's new film, Pompeii. It was advertised as I expected it would be; as a crappy action-cum-disaster movie that utilized Star Theory to some extent, coupled with the big explosion thing to top it all off.
I was happily mistaken; Pompeii was extremely entertaining.

Pompeii, the setting of "Fear and Loathing in Pompeii".

Kit Harrington (Jon Snow in Game of Thrones) plays Milo, a young, ripped Celt from the Roman colony of Britannica (which, strangely, seems to be in a state of permanent downpour), is a gladiator slave who is, well, a gladiator. He is taken to Pompeii, which the director (WS Anderson) describes as "the Las Vegas of the Roman World", where a tale of corruption, court politics and Kiefer Sutherland. Oh, and I almost forgot; that massive Volcano that they all live in the shadow of.

 Pompeii had a very strong opening, which was typical but at the same time different; these things always start with some sort of tragedy that sets the wheel in spin--of course, Pompeii had that, but I genuinely enjoyed it, and I'm usually a cynic for this genre. You watch Milo's family get slaughtered, and then he wakes up among a pile of corpses to gaze, stunned, at the burnt remnants of his village--and all in silence, except for the faint, eerie tinkling of swords and corpses hanging from a nearby tree. The lack of music can be just as powerful as the best John Williams score, and Pompeii, surprisingly, used this. I was very entertained, and honestly, it was a refreshing change of setting, to see something set in the ancient world. The only competition that Pomepeii will be facing in this genre comes from The Legend of Hercules (which was an insult to the trees felled to print my ticket) and 47 Ronin (It was set at the same time, wasn't it?), both of which were laughably horrible.

He's white and he's black, so that makes it more special-like!

I honestly enjoyed Pompeii. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't anything outstanding, but it was entertaining and a surprising change from what usually graces these genres. I'm glad that Kit Harrington is decent outside of GoT. And even the special effects were realistic--I checked with my Geography friend, who saw it with me, and apparently everything that happens environmentally is accurate. The sea would withdraw a few miles out, and then come crashing back, because...earthquakes, I think.

Come on, Kiefer, admit that you could've been better.

But it wasn't without a few blunders. Some of the action sequences were unrealistic, and I was aware of that when I was watching, which took me out of it somewhat. Also, Kiefer Sutherland has been better, and WS Anderson has stuck to the key stock characters here, most noticeably in Sutherland's sneering senator. This is good Saturday Night TV--the sort of thing you'll choose to watch, but wouldn't go out of your way to see. Pompeii hasn't lost marks because it wasn't good--it just wasn't outstanding.

So dear readers, watch Pompeii if you want an action movie that isn't $100 million drivel. Pompeii is $100 million entertainment. (seriously, that was the budget). I usually hate action movies, but I was pleasantly surprised.

3/5

Written by Jon Petre