Pompeii in 3D

The first thing to say is that if you like a moderately okay action film then go see Pompeii. Now for the ‘however’ part.

This is partially a spoiler so don’t read on if you want to remain oblivious to certain points before seeing the film.

The film has no specific connection with previous Pompeii films, such as The Last Days of Pompeii – which has been remade more than once. So don’t expect a particularly solid plot. The male lead, Milo (Kit Harrington), has a background story of Conan the Barbarian mashed with Gladiator. Yes, it’s partially a revenge story. Like Gladiator, Milo has an African gladiator friend Atticus (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and they support each other and fight side by side. The female lead, Cassia (Emily Browning), is caught up in a ‘the bad guy wants to marry her’ plot that has been used in thousands of previous films – and this one doesn’t fail to use the majority of clichéd moments associated with such a plot device. As to Vesuvius, the build up to the disaster is slightly along the lines a la Dante’s Peak.

If all that doesn’t seem very promising then consider that the review ratings for the film given on sites such as Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB are not exactly positive.

What the film boils down to is moments of action in spectacular 3D. This is not the first film recently in which grand visuals appear to have been given more thought than plot and dialogue. It’s a shame really considering that talented actors have been cast in these films and if they were given decent dialogue and a more substantial (and less clichéd) plot, then that alone would have made these films far better than any 3D action scenes.    

I’m not against 3D films, I’m all for them – but a balance has to be struck in making them. Filmmakers appear to making the same mistake that was during the previous incarnations of 3D films. They’re concentrating on the novelty of 3D to the point of neglecting the quality of storytelling in a film.

If they would put as much money into the script as they do the special effects…

300: Rise of a Computer Game?

I've been looking forward to watching the sequel to 300 for a while. While there was a lot about the film 300 (and the comic it was based on) which jars when compared to historical fact, 300 is still a good film. The audience is made to care about its main characters and their fate, which makes the journey through the film more engaging and the ending all the more moving. The same cannot be said of 300: Rise of an Empire.

Yes, it’s an action packed film – but I found it difficult to give a damn about its characters. Also, it was so action packed that there seemed to be little time for a worthwhile storyline or any effective character building for the lead characters. The only characters with a lengthy back plot are Xerxes and Artemisia, both of which are completely fictional back plots intended to increase the supposed villainy, power and evil of each in the story (for instance, Artemisia was the queen of Halicarnassus and not the victim of the tragic story given in the film).

Part of the motive for this appears to be, once again, to set up the democracy and freedom versus tyranny and slavery plot-line. Similar was done in the first film but not with such a heavy hand. That becomes important when the audience has to put aside the knowledge that both Athens and Sparta had slaves and any democracy within Athens was solely for true born Athenians and not for slaves or people of foreign birth living and working in Athens. The critical quip used in many a film “all men are born equal and some are born more equal than others” is a witticism that has an unpleasant truth when applied to ancient Greece.

I find it a curiosity that the film is so unbalanced when it comes to action vs plot and character. The film is around 100 minutes long and an extra 15 to 20 minutes allowing better storytelling, making it a two hour film, wouldn't have been such a hardship.

I know people who got a kick out of the film. Their enjoyment, however, was in comparison with that of watching an action packed computer game and the similarity of the action to that in the game that ties-in with the film.   Speaking of which, here is the trailer for the computer game – which could be used as a trailer for most of what happens in the film.

The Legend of Hercules, Not Really.

The film The Legend of Hercules is the kind of movie where I wonder why they used the name Hercules at all. In one way it is an okay action movie, if you can overlook the dull parts and a number of cliché scenes that would be more in place in a far less expensive movie production.

What I can say, without giving away any of the plot is that if you search for the myth of Hercules on the internet then you won’t learn any of the storyline of this particular film. The filmmakers seemed to have decided to completely abandon the myth and just use the name Hercules, along with the names of some of the other characters in the myth. In watching the film, I was reminded of two main areas of filmmaking of the past.

One is the Italian ‘Sword and Sandal” films, where sometimes fancy clothes and hairdos were more important than the story. In fact, some of the storytelling in this film very much borders on the style of the Sword and Sandal films.   

The other is the endlessly repeated message in American made films from the mid-twentieth century onwards, in which each Roman epic states that tyranny is wrong – a less than subtle barb at fascism, communism, and any nation seen as being of either ilk. This approach of tyranny versus democracy can still work in a film, as shown in the hit film 300 (whilst ignoring the fact that Spartans were tyrants who conquered and enslaved other people) – but only if it is handled correctly and not lathered in a bath of frothy clichés the way this Hercules film tends to do.

If all you expect from an action movie is cliché characters and occasional stylish slow motion fighting, then see this film. If you are looking for something more than that, choose something else.  

Round the Square

Magic squares have a reputation of being the least appealing form of magic because there is a mathematical principle seen to be involved. To be honest, when I have read ideas for magic squares the information given usually does live up to a promise of dullness. The problem tends to be a complete lack of regard for performance. The best card trick in the world becomes lack lustre when thought and preparation regarding performance is missing.

Al Smith’s book, Round the Square, focuses on the very need - the very aspect of how to incorporate a magic square into a performance. The end result is magic. It can be presented as mentalism, psychic phenomena, an experiment in superhuman mental agility or plain old magic. In some of the tricks, any aspect of calculation appears to be hindered or impossible on the part of the magician and yet the magician succeeds in bringing about a magical conclusion. Al Smith cleverly creates a situation where the audience believes that what has happened involves far more than any mere mathematical principle and calculation. And they would be right. We all know that if you choose any line of numbers in a magic square it will add up to the same number on that magic square. But how is it possible for the magician to predict, in an envelope sealed before the performance, what that number will be when it is a volunteer randomly choosing the numbers that will fill a grid to form a magic square? After all, how can a magician know what numbers will be chosen prior to the trick being performed?

The book does not simply list and describe tricks; it teaches the principles involved, step by step, before explaining tricks such as Origeightor which received a lot of attention back in 1992 when Al Smith published it in Abra and Paul Daniels adapted it for use in one of his television shows. After explaining Origeightor Smith improves on it and then goes through many of what are seen as the weaknesses of magic squares and provides easy, workable solutions to aid performance. If you want to add a different form of mental magic to your repertoire then Smith’s book is more than worth a look. It will inspire your own ideas and improvements. For those who are interested, details on how to buy a copy can be obtained by emailing albertesmith@myway.com