After his Celtic community is slaughtered by Romans, the slave Milo (Harington) becomes famous as a gladiator in AD 79 Londinium. So he's taken to Pompeii, where his kind intelligence (ahem!) catches the eye of noble woman Cassia (Browning), whose politically powerful parents (Moss and Harris) definitely would not approve. Milo immediately clashes with the local gladiators, although tough-guy Atticus (Akinnuoye-Agbaje) befriends him as he seeks vengeance against the cruel Roman Senator Corvus (Sutherland) who murdered Milo's parents. Meanwhile, Mount Vesuvius is growling, preparing to unleash an eruption of cinematic proportions.

The production values are about on par with the TV series Spartacus with added 3D whizzery and elaborately staged set-pieces. And the script is just as cheesy. Yet the seasoned cast members dive into the silly dialog with relish: Moss, Harris and Sutherland chomp mercilessly on the scenery, all but winking at the camera as they tear into each other. Meanwhile, Browning tries to play it straight, adding a certain soapy glee to her storyline, caught between Sutherland's amorous senator and Harrington's sexy slave.

At the centre Harington is thrusting and hunky as the relentlessly heroic Milo. His camaraderie with Akinnuoye-Agbaje's gruff and honourable Atticus is the best thing about the film, adding a bit of emotional weight along the way and in the final conflagration. And Harington's knowing glances with Browning (and her horse) are hilariously entertaining. At least all of this adds oomph to the mostly digital production design, although Anderson does manage to generate some genuine thrills in the action and battle scenes.

On the other hand, Anderson treats brutal violence as arena-style entertainment, wallowing in vengeance as he fills the screen with angry elitist misogynists and sweaty, bare-chested muscle-men. Meanwhile the earth itself quakes with its own fury, preparing for the biblical-scale chaos that seems to take ages to arrive. But when it does, it's pretty fabulous.

themes, grisly violence

19.Apr.14