Movie Review - Pompeii

Pompeii (2014)

Starring Kit Harrington, Carrie-Anne Moss, Emily Browning, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jessica Lucas, Jared Harris, and Kiefer Sutherland

Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson

Your guess is as good as mine as to why I watched the special effects disaster that is Pompeii.  I'm sure there's an interesting story dealing with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the desolation of the titular city in A.D. 79 -- it just isn't told here.  Instead, director Paul W.S. Anderson has created a film that looks like a horrible, cheap video game with hammy acting that rivals some of the worst you've seen in a major motion picture.  (Kiefer Sutherland chewing the scenery as the film's "baddie" and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's stilted spoutings as a "righteous slave" are equally bad.)  Tossing in an awkward romance between a slave and a member of royalty doesn't help matters either.  The fact that this was released in theaters and not straight-to-dvd is unfathomable to me.

The RyMickey Rating:  F