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Parents' Guide to

Immortals

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Impressive visuals can't save brutally awful screenplay.

Movie R 2011 103 minutes
Immortals Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 16+

Based on 13 parent reviews

fallafal
fallafal Parent
July 10, 2016
age 18+
Very graphic violence, not for kids at all. Made my stomach turn and I had to look away a bunch of times.

This title has:

Too much violence
Prairie Teacher
Prairie Teacher Adult
November 3, 2012
age 16+

Great costumes, action design, and artistic direction can't save it.

I went to see this solely for the involvement of director Tarsem and costume designer Eiko Ishioka, to see what these visionaries would bring to a swords & sandals action fantasy. They brought what I expected, and made the film worth looking at. What they didn't do is make it worth watching. The film's biggest problem is with its script. While many will complain that it doesn't adhere to Greek mythic tradition, the real problem is that the writing duo can't make us care for any of the characters, and can't figure out what message (if any) the film should convey. Heroes are directionless, enemies' motivations are murky, and every scene seems to exist only to bring things inches closer to The Big Battle. It's hard to stomach. There are some impressive action scenes, some interesting special effects, some novel artistic interpretations of Greek images. The film just looks fantastic throughout. But without any redeeming message, all of those qualities come off as gilded foil wrapping on a spoiled blood sausage. Violent, bloody, hateful, misogynistic, and impossible to recommend except for occasional freeze-frames to be studied in film art class.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
See all 13 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In 1228 B.C., the evil King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) seeks the Epirus Bow, a magical weapon that will give him unimaginable power and enable him to free the monstrous Titans, imprisoned since time immemorial within the rock of Mount Tartaros. The gods are powerless to intervene, but hope comes in the form of human Theseus (Henry Cavill), who's gifted in battle. Together with a beautiful oracle (Freida Pinto) and a thief (Stephen Dorff), Theseus must find a way to stop Hyperion before it's too late.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (13 ):
Kids say (17 ):

It seems as if there's no way at all to make these kinds of gladiator/barbarian/centurion battle movies any good. No matter how impressive the visuals, no matter how bloody or brutal the fighting, they're always stuck with flat dialogue, wooden acting, stiff characters, and stories with no point. That's certainly the case with IMMORTALS, despite the apparent "visionary" status of director Tarsem Singh, who's best known for his striking TV commercials and music videos, as well as two previous movies, The Cell (2000) and The Fall (2006).

The focus here is certainly on the extreme gore; the oversize, computer-generated sets; and the bizarre costumes (as well as Cavill's chiseled chest), but without a reason for any of this stuff, what's the point? Even as the explosive violence ramps up as the movie goes along, the boredom only grows greater. Some viewers might argue for a bit of "camp" value in all this, but many others won't want to bother.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the movie's extreme violence. How does it compare to what you've seen in other action movies? In horror movies? What kind of movie violence has the most impact?

  • Do you think the filmmakers intended audiences to get a particular message from watching this movie? If so, what would it be?

  • If you were born into a society like this, where fighting is the solution to every problem, what would you do? How would you try to live your life?

Movie Details

  • In theaters: November 11, 2011
  • On DVD or streaming: March 6, 2012
  • Cast: Freida Pinto , Henry Cavill , Mickey Rourke
  • Director: Tarsem Singh
  • Inclusion Information: Indian/South Asian directors, Female actors, Indian/South Asian actors
  • Studio: Relativity Media
  • Genre: Action/Adventure
  • Run time: 103 minutes
  • MPAA rating: R
  • MPAA explanation: sequences of strong bloody violence, and a scene of sexuality
  • Last updated: June 20, 2023

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