Director Tarsem Singh is no stranger to making stunningly beautiful films on a small budget. Hell, he financed The Fall entirely on his own dime. So surely, if given a $100 million budget and a Greek mythology epic, he'd go all out, free to make his vision with infinitely more freedom, yes? Actually, the opposite appears to be true, and I'm not sure if blame should fall on Singh, or the film's producers.
It should be noted that the producers also worked on Zack Snyder's 300, which might be part of the problem. Immortals has been generating buzz for its scale and imagery ever since it debuted a trailer at WonderCon a few weeks ago. And, despite all of Tarsem's visual talents, there's something off here; not a single image or sequence left an impression. It all feels too busy, and yes, too much like a 300 rip-off, only on a bigger scale (with some Clash of the Titans thrown in). Say what you will about 300, I know plenty despise it, but when that trailer first hit, I was captivated by its style and imagery. The same goes for Singh's The Fall, easily one of the most beautiful films of the past 20 years. Unfortunately, the mix of the two that is Immortals feels visually limp by comparison. Save for a few flashes of red, the color pallette is nothing but shades of gold and brown. Take a minute to compare that to The Fall, and you'll see why Tarsem's latest feels so underwhelming:
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