By: debbie lynn elias
IMMORTALS is truly an “immortal” film. The latest venture by the visionary visualist, Tarsem Singh, IMMORTALS is not just a high-octane, explosively visceral fantasy blending elements of ancient history with Greek mythology. It comes together under a single vision celebrating Tarsem’s renowned visual palette and styling. With a stylized tableau, the design is a pantheon of visual delights that are breathtakingly rich, lush and panoramic – and the perfect palette for 3D. And this is without a doubt, one of the finest works by Production Designer Tom Foden. But there are some other delights to be had as well; the kind that come in the mortal form. Henry Cavill, Luke Evans, Stephen Dorff, Kellan Lutz and Daniel Sharman all immortalize their “8-pack” bodies as they go toe-to-toe with the baddest bad boy of ‘em all, Mickey Rourke, in a fight to save humanity. As my nephews would say, IMMORTALS is one awesomely fantastic film.
Having been long ago defeated by the Gods of Olympus, the Titans have been sealed and entombed deep within Mount Tartaros for eons. Only he who possesses the Epirus Bow and fires it into the Titans’ rocky prison can release the Titans and once again, reign havoc and destruction on mankind, not to mention annihilating the Gods forever. Thus, after their last battle, Zeus hid the Epirus Bow in a place so secret that it would never be found again. With the passage of time, most mortals have forgotten the legend of the Titans. They have lived in peace for centuries; that is until King Hyperion appears on the scene. The bloodthirsty, and let’s just say it, extremely psychotic, maniacal, vengeful and power hungry Hyperion has declared war on humanity. Rumored that the Bow’s location is known to a Sibylline Oracle, Hyperion has left a trail of bloodshed and mutilated carcasses in his path, searching for the Bow and the Oracle. Declaring a war on humanity, Hyperion wants the Bow so he may unleash the Titans, destroy man and the Gods and have dominion over the mortal and immortal worlds. (Nice guy, huh?)
Now, one would think the Gods could just eliminate Hyperion and his armies with one lightening bolt or tidal wave. Not a chance. Ancient law dictates that the Gods may not intervene in any of man’s conflicts. Thus, they are relegated to looking down from Mount Olympus, praying for someone to stop Hyperion before he can find the Epirus Bow and destroy the world.
Theseus is a simple stone mason, a peasant, if you will. Living alone with his mother, he has been deemed an outcast, a bastard, as he was born out of wedlock. Undeterred by the shunning, Theseus has had one friend through the years; an old man who has taught him to fight, taught him to be strong, showed him courage and bravery and taught him right from wrong.
When word comes that Hyperion’s armies are heading to Theseus’ village sequestered deep within a seaside cliff, the people start to flee to safety. Sadly, there is a caste system for the departure with the peasants left for last with no guards or army to protect them. This includes Theseus and his mother. Outraged, Theseus’ controlled emotions begin to erupt and when Hyperion’s men reach his village and kill his mother, he is pushed over the edge to meet his true destiny. You see, Theseus had long ago been secretly chosen by Zeus to save the people and stop Hyperion.
Meeting the Oracle and enlisting a small band of criminals, thieves and slaves as aides, Theseus embraces his destiny, setting out to find Hyperion and the Bow, culminating in the battle of all battles.
Let’s just get it out in the open right now. Beyond the exquisite, meticulous production values of IMMORTALS, one of the main reasons to see the film is the cast. Producers Gianni Nunnari and Mark Canton, along with director Tarsem Singh, have amassed the most delicious looking cast to ever grace the screen. Just looking at them and the sumptuous tableau they grace are reason enough to see the film.
Dare I say, that Henry Cavill is one “super man” as he immortalizes himself as Theseus. Bringing great confidence to the character, Cavill captures your attention at every turn, drawing your eyes to him, making Theseus stand out when set against an extremely full canvas. Training in martial arts, flexibility and hand-to-and combat for 6 months before the cameras even started to role, Cavill seems proudest that he “did not sustain any major injuries” during production. One weak moment in his performance, however, comes when rallying the troops for an epic showdown at Mount Tartaros. While a large scale scene, a better audio mix might have made Theseus’ speech, and Cavill’s presence, more dynamic. Co-star Mickey Rourke has the highest praise for Cavill. “He’s very young, enthusiastic. It’s nice to work with somebody who’s at the beginning of their career and see them so gung-ho.”
Joining Cavill in Theseus’ mortal escapades is none other than Stephen Dorff. A huge departure from his prior roles, and particularly after his critically acclaimed turn in “Somewhere”, Dorff is electrifying – and adds carefully placed comic relief – as the self-serving Stavros, a man enslaved by Hyperion. Describing IMMORTALS as “Gladiator meets 300”, Dorff always felt the film had a “Star Wars” type template. “I felt like I was kind of Han Solo. . . I wanted to make it a little more contemporary, a little more human, a little more like the ‘every guy’.”
Looking down from the heavens, Luke Evans is more than god-like as the immortal Zeus. Powerful and commanding, there is not a moment you don’t envision him as King of the Gods. Evans describes feeling “absolutely totally badass” playing the part, downplaying the soreness, achiness and hunger that went with being a perfect physical specimen and fighting machine. According to him, “there’s a lot of training before you start something like this because it’s physically demanding. There was no faking any of it. We were put through our paces. And Henry [Cavill] especially, did a huge amount of work.”
Interestingly is Evans’ observation at how the physical training helpful inform his actual acting performance. “It makes you stand differently. It informs your character in a sort of subliminal way.” In agreement, Cavill notes that “it’s like wearing a permanent costume. It makes you feel different.”
Joining Evans in the skies above are Kellan Lutz, Daniel Sharman and Isabel Lucas as Poseidon, Aries and Athena, respectively.
For Lutz, a well read fan of Greek mythology, “Poseidon is just the role that I’d love to play. It’s really an honor to be able to play that.” Part and parcel to Poseidon is an elaborate headpiece consisting of two huge conch-like shells over each ear designed by Oscar winning costume designer Eiko Ishioka. And while Lutz admits it was difficult not only working with the cumbersome headpiece but hearing, on the up side, “I could always listen to the ocean which was really nice.”
According to Sharman, “[For a God of War] Aries is incredibly precocious and had so many flaws and so many problems that were so interesting at the same time.” But Sharman’s real challenge, and one he executes beautifully, is wearing an ornate spiked headpiece also designed by Ishioka. “These costumes are made for thousands and thousands of dollars. So, I’m fighting wielding my hammer around thinking I just hope I don’t (a) kill someone or (b) break this helmet. It was very interesting.”
But it’s not all about the boys because as with Isabel Lucas’ Athena, Freida Pinto is flawlessly luminous as the Oracle. By her very nature, Pinto exudes a breathtaking mysterious aura that intensifies with her performance.
And then we have none other than Mickey Rourke as King Hyperion. Talk about type-casting! Rourke just blows me away with his evil decadence and majestic command of the screen. Notable is that with his very movement and dialogue delivery, Rourke adds layers to Hyperion beyond the visible evil. “I fight very hard in the last couple years playing bad guys. I find them also much more interesting than a good guy. . .The bad guy doesn’t always have to be one dimensional. You try to find layers and reasons to justify why he is what he is. I try to find the moments where he’s not that cliched, evil bad guy. I fight for that all the time and this character was hard because he’s written as pure evil. I can only try to justify the King’s actions so far. I never look at the guy as pure evil. I always try to find there’s a reason.” Making Rourke’s job a little more taxing was the fact he had just come out of bicep surgery and lost his entire tendon, making the physical action more difficult. “I was worried about just being able to tie my shoes.”
Adding to the imposing figure of Hyperion, literally and figuratively, are more incredible costume creations from Eiko Ishioka who has to be a shoe-in for an Oscar nomination with her work. Rourke is more than appreciative of the detail to Eiko’s work noting, “This layer, then another layer, then a layer up here. Then a belt over here and a gauntlet over here. . .and the shoes were like 300 pounds apiece. Then once I got dressed it was another two hours in the make-up chair.” The arm gauntlet was, in fact, added as a means to cover his surgical scar. And while he admittedly loved playing Hyperion, “I would rather have been one of the guys dressed in gold. Really! I saw those outfits and I went ***k, that’s the real me.”
A warm and welcoming performance comes from John Hurt as the old man who trains Cavill’s Theseus. Providing sage wisdom, he grounds the film with a moral conscience
Written by brothers Charley and Vlas Parlapanides, the story and script that is fantastical and exciting, rooted in history and myth with a creative melding of concepts that result in an energetic and entertaining story. And thanks to Tarsem’s visual interpretation, IMMORTAL is possibly the bloodiest film of the year. According to Charley, ” I think Tarsem struck a great balance between ‘the sacred and the profane.’ Yeah, it is bloody, but it is beautiful as well.” Daniel Sharman sings his praises for the script describing it as having “such a lovely arc to it; a nice little way about going. I just thought it was a beautiful script.”
Everyone involved in this film came on board for two reasons and two reasons only – the script and Tarsem Singh. For Kellan Lutz, this was a dream come true. ” I’ve always wanted to work with [Tarsem]. It’s been a goal of mine as an actor.” According to Dorff, “He’s got a great energy…which I think you need on a big one like this. He’s a real technician, but very good with performance.” Rourke flat out agrees. “The main reason I took this movie was to work with Tarsem. . .He brought some drawings of the character and different characters and I thought, ‘This guy’s really prepared.’ And I like working with guys that do a very long pre-production because they know exactly what they want and because he [came] out of commercials and had such a fabulous look the way he lights everything and stuff, I think he could take this material to another level. I don’t necessarily know if I would have done this movie if it wasn’t Tarsem involved.”
Self-described by Tarsem as a “painting action movie”, IMMORTALS has over 100 special effects and some 20 sets at play, in addition to the actual physical live action taking place. Using some of the latest state-of-the-art technology, Tarsem brings a very stylized perfect composition to life. The system InterSense was used as a means to allow Singh to see both green screen with live action in pre-production, enabling sets to be built to exacting specification and Singh to meticulously frame each shot. During shooting, the Moses system was employed which allowed Singh to “see past the green screen” as a form of pre-visualization thus creating the perfect 3D reality. If there was ever a match between man and technology, this is it. 3D was made for Tarsem Singh or Tarsem was made for 3D.
Tarsem, together with DP Brendan Galvin and Editors Stuart Levy and Wyatt Jones, does strike a profound visual balance. And so much of the violence and carnage is so poetic to watch thanks to his lensing with the 70’s style of slo-mo with certain aspects of the fighting. There is nothing gratuitous in the blood letting or some of the more shocking tongue cutting or ball breaking scenes. According to scribe Charley Parlapanides, “Tarsem’s direction is nothing short of amazing and the cast is truly great, across the board.”
A big part of IMMORTALS are the battle sequences incorporating both CGI and live action, all of which are intensified by Tarsem’s disciplined use of three distinct battle stylings. Under the direction of stunt coordinator Artie Malesci, not only does the stunt team execute meticulously choreographed action but the main actors as well. For Cavill, all the training gave him “a big tool box to work with.”
Propelling IMMORTALS to even greater levels of heart-pounding energy is a score by Trevor Morris. Describing this scoring as “very collaborative”, “With a director so visual as [Tarsem] you have to be working together. It’s a visual effects drive movie in the sense that it’s CGI so it’s developing as the score is being developed.” Key to the drive of this particular score are the tempos and orchestrations. Calling on “initial instincts” “following the story”, Morris pays close attention to what he sees on screen. “The colors, editing – quickly or slowly – is the color saturated. I respond a lot to what I see.” Here, the music really does compliment the various color saturations of the different tableaus that Tarsem has going, helping to set the stage and tell the story.
Having already seen the film, Rourke capsulizes it succinctly. “It’s entertainment. It looks great. Tarsem did a helluva job. It’s just a wild looking two hours of something you can escape to that’s different.”
Mythic and mythical, IMMORTALS is fantastical, exciting, high octane, thrilling entertainment. It’s immortal.
Theseus – Henry Cavill
Hyperion – Mickey Rourke
Zeus – Luke Evans
Stavros – Stephen Dorff
Poseidon – Kellan Lutz
Aries – Daniel Sharman
Athena – Isabel Lucas
Oracle – Freida Pinto
Directed by Tarsem Singh. Written by Charley and Vlas Parlapanides.
by debbie elias, 10/30/2011
