THE PLOT THUS FAR
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.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
“Pompeii” is a Gladiator rip-off until the volcano erupts. That’s it. Everyone waits an hour to see Pompeii get destroyed, but you’ve got to sit through scenes of Kiefer Sutherland humbling a young gladiator and his subsequent revenge. What does this mean for all of us? Well, Paul Anderson is going to keep directing Paul Anderson movies until the end of time. Either you’re onboard with his crap or you cut and run to a better movie. If anything, this is a movie meant for the home theater. You can enjoy the spectacle of Pompeii’s mighty destruction without investing too much of yourself.
Kit Harrington shows here that “Game of Thrones” will be the only thing he’s remembered for doing. Playing Milo the Celt, he pales in comparison to the other Gladiators. The fights are forced and everything feels like a build to get the chick from Lemony Snicket to make goo-goo eyes at him. Fortunately, the token black Gladiator gets to drop some ancient Roman magical negro words of wisdom on him. If we were doing this in true Latin fashion, he couldn’t use the letters J, U or W. See, folks? I took nearly a decade of the language and I still remember the basic tenets.
The Blu-Ray comes with 3D and 2D transfers of the presentation. The 3D gets a chance to show off during the actual explosion and some of the gladiator fights. Other than that, there’s nothing going on. The special features range from featurettes, commentary, deleted scenes and even more Blu-Ray exclusive featurettes. The DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track is expansive and insanely detailed. The 1080p transfer is stunning in 2D, but the richness of the colors seem to pop a little bit more in the 3D transfer. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase to the curious.
RELEASE DATE: 05/20/2014