Pompeii: Movie Review

Simply put, “Pompeii” is oh so bad, and oh so stupid. Nevertheless, I actually found myself quite entertained. This is one of those movie where the laughably bad writing and acting actually help make the ride kind of fun.  I would love to see the Riff Tracks crew get a hold of “Pompeii” and work their magic. They would strike gold.

Set in 79 A.D. Pompeii, the story centers on Milo (Kit Harrington), a slave/gladiator who catches the eye of Cassia (Emily Browning), the daughter of wealthy parents (Jared Harris and Carrie-Anne Moss).  Milo and Cassia instantly fall for each other, but of course, with Milo being a slave, things aren’t going to go smoothly.  The first obstacle would be the evil Senator Corvus of Rome (Kiefer Sutherland), who has his sights set on Cassia for himself.  Sutherland seems to be having some fun and his overacting actually helps with keeping “Pompeii” entertaining.  Don’t get me wrong, Sutherland is terrible here, but in the best way possible. 

I guess I shouldn’t leave out the whole volcano disaster which looms in the background of the story.  Of course, when the mountain goes boom, it looks fantastic, but after seeing countless disaster films over the years, there isn’t much here that I haven’t seen before. 

If you are a film goer that craves something with intelligence, you may want to skip “Pompeii”, if you are someone who likes CGI volcanic explosions, cheesy romance, terrible dialogue and gladiator fighting, then “Pompeii” might be for you.

By: Marc Ferman