Not so legendary

Pompeii 3DEnglish **Director: Paul W S AndersonCast: Kit Harrington, Emily Browning, Kiefer Sutherland

What’s worse than a bad ending? A badly executed one. Pompeii is the ancient Roman city that was devoured by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

It is easy to imagine that a movie about such a city would depict the unsuspecting citizen’s struggle for survival.

In a cataclysmic event that has people frantically running away from lung-caking volcanic ash, only to find that larva and flying boulders will be their coup de grace, chances of survival are virtually nil.

The movie Pompeii has incorporated the life of a gladiator slave in the AD 79 period, close to the time frame of the eruption.

Milo (Kit Harrington) is a slave and gladiator in Pompeii, who is to soon fight in the arena. He is unafraid and confident of emerging victorious.

Meanwhile, Roman senator Corvus (Kiefer Sutherland) visits Pompeii on behalf of the emperor to look at investment in the soon-to-be-fallen city. 

The rulers of Pompeii don’t want to compromise on impressing Corvus and a grand show is to be organised between the two best gladiators – Milo and Atticus. 

Their daughter Cassia (Emily Browning) is wary of the Roman presence in their city and warns her parents against it. Of course, Cassia has taken a liking to the strong and handsome Milo, and doesn’t want him to be on the losing end of the fight-to-the-death battle he is about to face.

As Mount Vesuvius grumbles intermittently, most citizens dismiss it as a temporary phenomenon, oblivious of the disaster that is about to strike.

If Pompeii does keep viewers in their seats, it is only to find out if anyone would manage to escape, or if the movie is going to champion the idea that love triumphs over even natural disasters.

To speak of the cast, both Sutherland and Browning have done fairly well in playing their roles. However, Kit Harrington’s acting is not an accurate indicator of his character’s demeanour or of what the viewer should expect in the next scene. He could be looking at a platypus or the gorgeous Cassia and we would not be able to tell.

What saves this movie from being terrible is its cinematography and action sequences. There is plenty of bloodshed and death to entertain action junkies. Did you like 300? Watching this movie will be a disappointment. Did you like Clash of the Titans? Then this might be the movie for you to watch.