Pompeii (2014)
The blueprints of James Cameron’s Titanic, mixed with elements of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, are all over would-be historical romance and disaster epic Pompeii. Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, Pompeii offers a glimpse of Titanic if it were helmed by a far less accomplished director, with a less charismatic lead couple and a screenplay — written by Janet Scott Batchler, Lee Batchler and Michael Robert Johnson — that’s passable at best.
Basic ingredients are all there. Like Titanic, Pompeii features a handsome young man from the wrong side of the tracks, gladiator Milo (Kit Harington), who falls for a privileged but unhappy young woman, Cassia (Emily Browning), fighting to escape marriage with a wealthy cad — in this case Senator Quintus Attius Corvus (Kiefer Sutherland). When a historic disaster strikes — this time the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, rather than the sinking of the Titanic — our central couple must struggle to survive while pursued by the female lead’s spurned lover.
Pompeii’s biggest problems are its script and central casting. There’s nothing technically wrong with the performances of Harington and Browning, but the actors are missing that X factor Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet brought to Titanic. They’re far outshined by a strong supporting cast who are more memorable than the leads. Sutherland, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jared Harris, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje all surpass Harington and Browning in their onscreen charisma and make viewers wish they were the movie’s central focus instead.
For its first half the movie is quite entertaining, despite its formulaic aspects. Milo sees his parents murdered and becomes a renowned fighter known only as “The Celt”. He befriends and gains the respect of fellow gladiator Atticus (Akinnuoye-Agbaje), winning him over after initial differences. The costumes and production design are top-notch in evoking the society of ancient Rome, while the special effects help bring us into this world despite much of it being obviously CGI.
Unfortunately, and ironically, Pompeii falls apart in its latter half dedicated to the eruption of Vesuvius, the main selling point of the film. It amounts to a lot of CGI spectacle that only reminds us how Titanic did this kind of thing better. There are scenes of panicked residents fleeing fires and ash of the volcano, but none carry the same weight of desperate passengers in Titanic, for which Cameron had a full-scale physical replica of the ship constructed.
History buffs and those with an interest in ancient Rome and/or the destruction of Pompeii will appreciate this film, but Pompeii never transcends the level of adequate popcorn entertainment. It provides a momentary diversion, yet none of it sticks with the viewer for long and the fate of the lead couple meets with a big shrug. The city of Pompeii deserves a better cinematic depiction of its fate.
5/10
