First the movie. Like many (including most of the reviewers here) I was not that impressed on first viewing. This, by the way, is a peculiarity with certain kinds of movies, movies where the uniqueness of the story (or action) tend to raise expectations higher than they should be. Human nature being what it is, if you watch a film with high expectations and it lets you down, it must, ergo, the film's fault. Usually it is. But I had occasion to watch this film two more times in different environments and, with no expectations to speak of, it was better in almost every way than I first remembered. And the deal closer here is Rourke. Hard to believe that, in days gone by (not Ancient Greece, but close) he was a Hollywood pretty-boy playing hi-impact romantic leads. As most of you (probably) know, he dropped out sight for a spell and then reappeared in 2008's THE WRESTLER where his let-it-all-hang-out performance blew away both critics and audiences. In 2010 he popped up again as a bad guy in the otherwise forgettable (PLEASE FORGET IT) Ironman 2. His casting as a uber-bad guy in a super hero film caught a number of eyeballs, and his performance was arguably the most memorable thing in the picture. Dennis Miller, who had a nightly talk show at the time, got a lot laughs by running a small clip of Rourke from IM2 -- a scene where Rourke's character is sauntering down a major boulevard turning cars to cinders with his magic whip-- and then asking the rhetorical audience, in Miller's unique deadpan style, "I wonder if Mickey realizes he is actually in a movie?" This film arrived a year after IM2 and Rourke really chews the scenery here. It is hard to keep a straight face when every second piece of dialog you have is a promise that your lineage will rule the earth for centuries to come. But Rourke pulls it off. For this unique performance, and allowing for the over-expectations of audiences at the time of release, I believe this film deserves a higher rating than it currently has.
Review of Immortals
