Critic Reviews

Dashing across the screen in all its bloody, gilded glory, the awesome and beautiful Immortals marks an all-win scenario.

Spectacle and spectacular are often confused for one another in stories of epic adventure, but Immortals is the rare film where they are one and the same.

What saves Immortals as a moviegoing experience is the exuberant, kid-in-a-candy-store virtuosity of its director, former music-video wunderkind Tarsem Singh (The Cell).

The film is as faithful to Greek mythology as Thor is to tales of the Norse Gods, but it ultimately doesn't matter. Tarsem's goal is to give viewers an experience a little different from the norm and, to that end, he succeeds. The "wow!" factor is in full evidence.

As mythic spectacles go, it beats "Clash Of The Titans," particularly in the areas of intimidating villainy and actual Titan-clashing. Nonetheless, it isn't any smarter than its inspirations, just prettier.

Thrills are in short supply, but so are annoyances. This is a maintenance-free ride.

A popcorn movie has one goal, and that's to entertain. Immortals meets this criteria handily, and serves as a splendid spectacle besides.

Despite this new expansion in scale, Immortals lacks the inexorable forward momentum of its role model "300," as well as that movie's audacious, gleeful fascism and oblivious, accidental homoeroticism.

The filmmaker's work is infinitely more exhilarating when he's relieved of the need to be in any way serious. He should play dumb more often.

It won't do anything to win over those not already partial to Tarsem's style, but it has more than enough blood, guts and glamour to satisfy – and Cavill looks like a superman.