As it makes its way from small screen to large, Kit Harrington is joining the cast of Spooks: The Greater Good. To that end, it seemed a good idea to take a look at a film he starred in the previous year. Directed by Paul W. S.
Anderson Pompeii (2014) is a panto of a picture.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead!
We start in Roman Britain. After the massacre of a Celtic village, the lone survivor is a young boy condemned to die in gladiatorial combat. Yet unbeknownst to the men that wronged him, he survives still longer, gaining fame as a fighter in his native land under imperial watch. At a 
young age he is spotted by a visiting Roman, effectively a talent scout of sorts, who insists he’d be better suited to fighting for sport in Pompeii (where the real competition is …).
On the way to the Las Vegas of Ancient Rome, our surly combatant is accompanied by Cassia (Emily Browning). Upon his arrival, political tensions rise and he makes an enemy of Atticus, a fellow Gladiator played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. All the while the ground rumbles for reasons unknown, but no one takes that much notice…
The film is nuts; after all, apparently it’s not enough that the heavens came crashing down on the towns folk in an event that gave the world the word ‘volcano’. Director Anderson feels the need to include impossible romance, political avarice and a revenge tale to boot. It’s balderdash, but, balderdash though it is, the movie is very entertaining. This is a movie that you stick on in the middle of the week when you want some silly melodrama fun to lap away your already frazzled nerve endings. Or perhaps you stick it on at the end of the week, when you want some background noise during a long overdue conversation with a friend, relative or significant other.
Kit Harrington is a hero. Choreography means he does a good job with a sword and acting ability (as demonstrated on Game Of Thrones) means he does well without. Browning is similarly very watchable. Both seem set to do good stuff in their careers. Even so, it is Corvus (Kiefer Sutherland) that makes this movie. Camping it up with cut-glass English, Sutherland gives a performance reminiscent of Alan Rickman‘s Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (1991). Next to him, we have Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, though not dialed up in the same way as Corvus (Sutherland). Atticus is the gladiator of gladiators and boy does he know it. Oridinarly, the fact that the suporting characters overshadow the main players would be indicative that the drama isn’t up to snuff. Still, the fact that there is so much going on tells us that normal rules may not apply.
Now, I am being a little charitable, that is true, but there are three simple reasons. First of all, the film is not mean-spirited. More importantly, the fight scenes are very nicely done. For anyone that is a sucker for a well orchestrated punch-up (hack and slash-up?) Pompeii is worth seeing. Still, most important of all, this film has no airs or graces about itself. It is a popcorn movie and well it knows it: hence talking during it is actually OK (unless you, your friend, your relative, or your significant other is a stickler for silence, of course).
There is one thing that took me by surprise in this film though. Not the eruption, you understand. Kit Harrington, the slighted Celt: his name is Milo. Even if we accept that the name is Celtic in origin (it is ‘Latin and Old German’ according to nameberry.com – make of that what you will…), doesn’t that sound a little cuddly to you? The dude is compelled to kill people for sport and he is called Milo, which is the name I’d expect a friend to give his/her Puggle puppy. On the other hand, that could be part of the charm.
All things considered, the film is preposterous; a ludicrous flick you watch for fun.
Company, confectionery and (if possible) conversation are a must. Don’t analyze. 6/10
