A slave-turned-gladiator finds himself in a race against time to save his true love, who has been betrothed to a corrupt Roman Senator. As Mount Vesuvius erupts, he must fight to save his beloved as Pompeii crumbles around him.
The explosions, lava flumes and tidal waves that conclude Pompeii may be unconvincing, but they’re certainly spectacular; much like Anderson’s The Three Musketeers, the details are highly dubious, but the effect is strangely pleasing in its daft, anything-goes showmanship.
Sutherland alone manages to provide some fun. So wildly slimy and camp, his turn would be right up/down there with the worst of the year were he not such welcome relief form all the other tedium.
Over-reaching and unintentionally amusing, this is straight-to-video quality inexplicably delivered at blockbuster scale. A thunderous volca-NO.
While it offers spectacular CGI devastation and a chiselled hero, Pompeii is so soulless and empty that you won’t shed any tears when the ‘cano blows its top.
Pompeii is much more interested in lava than lovers, playing to the arena with a repetitive CGI spectacle that is as moving as watching pixels being extinguished on your computer screen.
The bread-and-circus games sequence is outrageously pinched from the great Russell Crowe epic, and the whole thing isn't exactly teeming with originality. But director Paul WS Anderson (known for the Resident Evil movies) punches it over with gusto and it's undoubtedly watchable.
Measured against the remains of the real Pompeii and its frozen-in-time inhabitants, this Pompeii feels considerably more dead and buried.
They clearly spent all the movie’s budget on the special-effects in this laughable mixture of 1970s-style disaster movie and cheesy Mills & Boon bodice-ripper.
At least, when the eruption finally happens, the explosive special effects do not disappoint.
Rubbish, then, but laughable rubbish – often more "with it" than "at it". Titter ye, indeed.
Better than it had any right to be.
Film brings Pompeii back to life perfectly--and destroys it again
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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