Immortals 2011

Immortals is a 2011 3D fantasy film directed by Tarsem Singh and starring Henry Cavill, Freida Pinto, and Mickey Rourke. The film also stars Luke Evans, Steve Byers, Kellan Lutz, Joseph Morgan, Stephen Dorff, Daniel Sharman, Alan Van Sprang, Isabel Lucas, Corey Sevier, and John Hurt. The film was previously named Dawn of War and War of the Gods before being officially named Immortals, and is very loosely based on the Greek myths of Theseus and the Minotaur and the Titanomachy.
It was released in 2D and in 3-D (using the Real D 3D and Digital 3D formats) on November 11, 2011 by Universal Pictures and Relativity Media.

Plot

Before the dawn of man or beast, immortals wage war against each other. The victors name themselves Gods while the vanquished are named Titans and imprisoned beneath Mount Tartarus. The Epirus Bow, a weapon of immense power, is lost on Earth during the war. In 1228 B.C., the mortal Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) searches for the Bow, intending to use it to release the Titans to spite the Gods for failing to save his family. Hyperion captures the virgin oracle Phaedra (Freida Pinto), believing that she can find the Bow's resting place.
In a small village nearby, the inhabitants prepare to flee to Tartarus to avoid Hyperion's army. One inhabitant, Theseus (Henry Cavill), is a skilled warrior trained by his mentor, the old man (John Hurt). Theseus and his mother Aethra (Anne Day-Jones), considered undesirables because Theseus was born from Aethra being raped, are forced to stay behind by villagers and Athenan soldiers including Lysander (Joseph Morgan). Theseus ably battles multiple opponents until the Athenan officer Helios (Peter Stebbings) intervenes and discharges Lysander for his actions. Lysander travels to Hyperion, offering his service and the village's location. Hyperion accepts, but maims and emasculates Lysander for being a traitor. Hyperion's forces attack Theseus' village, murdering the villagers and Aethra, and taking Theseus captive.
The old man, revealed to be Zeus (Luke Evans), meets with his fellow Gods Athena (Isabel Lucas), Poseidon (Kellan Lutz), Ares (Daniel Sharman), Apollo (Corey Sevier), and Heracles (Steve Byers), and warns them not to interfere in mortal affairs as Gods, believing that, until the Titans are released, they must have faith in mankind to defeat Hyperion. Theseus is enslaved alongside the thief Stavros (Stephen Dorff). Phaedra, who is held captive nearby, witnesses a vision of Theseus. Phaedra organizes a riot, using the chaos to escape with Theseus, Stavros, and the other slaves. Theseus decides to pursue Hyperion and attempts to capture a boat, but he and his allies are overwhelmed by Hyperion's forces. Poseidon purposefully falls from Olympus into the ocean, causing a tidal wave that wipes out Hyperion's men. Phaedra sees another vision of Theseus standing near a shrouded body. She determines that Theseus must return home to bury Aethra.
While laying Aethra to rest, Theseus discovers the Epirus Bow embedded in nearby rock. He frees the Bow, but is attacked by Hyperion's henchman the Beast (Robert Maillet). Theseus kills the Beast, and uses the Bow to save his allies from being executed, before collapsing from poisoned scratches inflicted by the Beast. Phaedra tends to Theseus and later falls in love with him, stripping her of the visions she deemed a curse. The group return to Phaedra's temple while Hyperion and his forces are away at Tartarus. At the temple, Stavros and Theseus are lured into an ambush, and Theseus loses the bow. Outnumbered by Hyperion's men, Ares directly intervenes to save Theseus, and Athena provides the men with horses to reach Tartarus. Zeus arrives and tearfully kills Ares for disobeying his command. Zeus tells Theseus that they will receive no more aid from the Gods, and he must justify the faith Zeus has in him alone. The lost bow is brought to Hyperion.
Theseus, Stavros, and Phaedra, travel to Tartarus. Theseus tries in vain to warn the Tartarus King Cassander (Stephen McHattie) of Hyperion's plans, but Cassander dismisses his talk of Gods as myth, intending to negotiate peace with Hyperion. The following day Hyperion uses the Bow to destroy Tartarus' seemingly indestructible gate killing Helios. Theseus leads the Athenan army to war against the Hyperion forces, killing Lysander. Hyperion ignores the battle and travels through to Mount Tartarus, killing Cassander. Hyperion uses the Bow to breach the mountain and free the Titans before Stavros and Theseus can stop him. The force of the release knocks the mortals down. Stavros takes the Bow and kills a Titan, but he is massacred by the other Titans. Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Heracles and Apollo arrive and battle the Titans while Theseus fights Hyperion. The Gods prove more powerful than the Titans, but they are overwhelmed by the sheer number of Titans, with all but Zeus and Poseidon being killed. Theseus kills Hyperion, and Zeus collapses the mountain before ascending to Olympus with Athena's body. The collapsing mountain wipes out Hyperion's men. The mortally wounded Theseus is transported to Olympus for his sacrifice and given a place among the Gods.
Several years later, Theseus' story has become legend and Phaedra has given birth to Agamas (Gade Munroe), Theseus' son. Acamas is met by the old man who informs the child that in the future he too will one day fight against evil. Acamas sees a vision of the sky filled with Gods and Titans fighting.

Cast

• Henry Cavill as These us, a mortal chosen by Zeus to fight evil.
• Stephen Dorff as Stavros, a cunning slave and master thief who joins Theseus on his quest.
• Luke Evans as Zeus, King of the gods.
• Isabel Lucas as Athena, Goddess of Wisdom.
• Kellan Lutz as Poseidon, God of the Sea.
• Freida Pinto as Phaedra, an Oracle priestess who joins Theseus on his quest.
• Mickey Rourke as King Hyperion.
• John Hurt as Old Man, a disguise used by Zeus to interact with mortals.
• Joseph Morgan as Lysander, a traitorous Athenian soldier who joins King Hyperion.
• Peter Stebbings as Helios, an Athenian general.
• Daniel Sharman as Ares, God of War.
• Anne Day-Jones as Aretha, mother of Theseus.
• Greg Bryk as Nycomedes, a monk in service to Phaedra.
• Corey Sevier as Apollo, God of Light.
• Steve Byers as Heracles, the God who forged the Epirus Bow.
• Robert Maillet as the Beast, Hyperion's powerful henchman who wears a metal bull mask.
• Romano Orzari as Cirrus, an Athenian soldier.
• Alan Van Sprang as Dareios, a slave who joins Theseus on his quest.
• Stephen McHattie as Cassandra, the King of Mount Tartarus
• Robert Naylor as Young Theseus.
• Gage Munroe as Camas, son of Theseus and Phaedra.

Production

This film incorporates classical Greek myths filmed using 3D technology, necessitating extensive post production. Director Tarsem Singh said that he is planning an action film using Renaissance painting styles. He then goes on to say that the film is "Basically, Caravaggio meets Fight Club. It's a really hardcore action film done in Renaissance painting style. I want to see how that goes; it's turned into something really cool. I'm going for a very contemporary look on top of that so I'm kind of going with, you know, Renaissance time with electricity. So it's a bit like Baz Luhrman doing Romeo + Juliet in Mexico; it's just taking a particular Greek tale and half (make it contemporary) and telling it. The film had a production budget of $80 million ($75 million after tax rebates) to $120 million and cost "at least" $50 million to market

Soundtrack

The score for the film was composed by Trevor Morris and has been released on 8 November 2011.

Release and critical reception

Immortals opened from mixed to negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 38% of 90 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 5 out of 10. Based on 22 reviews, the film holds an approval rating of 27% from Top Critics. The critical consensus is that, "the melding of real sets, CG work, and Tarsem's signature style produces fireworks, though the same can't be said for Immortals' slack, boring storytelling. Meteoritic assigns the film a weighted average score of 46 (out of 100) based on 23 reviews from mainstream critics, considered to be "mixed or average reviews. Cinema Score polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a "B" on an A+ to F scale and a "B+" from the under-25 crowd. However, several critics called the film one of the year's best. It made MTV's honor roll. as well as HitFlix's top twenty list. Furthermore it made Toro Magazine's Top Ten list as well as Glasgow To The Movies' Top Ten Films of 2011.

Box office

In North America, it was released on November 11, 2011. It had a $1.4 million midnight showings and then grossed a total of $14.8 million on its opening day, topping the daily box office. It then finished the weekend of November 11-13, 2011 at #1 with $32.2 million, ranking as Relativity Media's biggest opening weekend to date, against newcomers J. Edgar and Jack and Jill. 3D showings accounted for a substantial 66% of the weekend gross. Among similar titles, though, its total weekend gross was much less than 300's $70.9 million and Clash of the Titans's $61.2 million. The film's audience was 60 percent male, 75 percent under the age of 35

Outside North America, it earned $38 million overseas from 35 countries on its opening weekend. Its highest-grossing territories were Russia ($8.2 million), China ($5.7 million) and South Korea ($4.5 million). The film has earned $82,884,603 in the United States and Canada and $132,900,000 in other countries, for a worldwide total of 215,795,282