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The Gods must be Campy

"Immortals", like "300", is like an 80s musical: all anyone talks about is the sets. And "Immortals" is stunning, albeit grotesquely so, courtesy of director Tarsem Singh ("The Cell"). Set in Hellenistic 13th Century BC, this imagined Greece is more Middle Earth than Crete. The terrain ranges from cliffs that caricature Dover; to parched tundra broken by one phallic tower; to the Hoover dam (sans water) somewhere in between.

The film's aesthetic is a mashup of Brutalist and Mormon Architectures, Fantasy pulp sleeves, and Dolphin Gyms, all topped with Rococo blood sprays in 3D. And slow motion!

These sets are populated by perfectly chiseled bodies, though stripped of any sexual funk. But they do fight passionately, with choreography that would make John Woo blush. The fights have all the acrobatics of a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" season finale. And in slow motion!

In her essay, Notes on "Camp", Susan Sontag posits that truly great camp arises from a earnestness: the best camp doesn't try to be campy or kitchy, it does not recognize its own gay signifiers. It makes me question if Hollywood can produce any camp in this post "Will and Grace" era (so, thank God for Mel Gibson productions?).

So, while I enjoyed the excesses of the "Clash of the Titans" remake - who doesn't love Liam Neeson's dream coat? - it never really rises above kitch. And with few notable exceptions, "Immortals" never delivers as the guilty pleasure it might have.

Mickey Rourke (as uber baddie, Hyperion) doesn't even bother to dial-in his performance - at best, he tweets it. Freida Pinto (as the virgin oracle, Phaedra) is convincingly beautiful, even when sharing screentime with Henry Cavill, as Theseus.

Still, "Immortals" sports a decent plot, good pacing, stunning fight scenes, and of course all that stylized gore. However, it is worth noting that both this film and "Titans" suffer for the lack of strong women. In particular, the genre loses much energy with the absence of Hera, the original bitch-antagonist.

In "Titans", the screenplay has Perseus (Sam Worthington), Zeus's favorite, constantly battering the audience with his pride as man, not as a diety. By contrast, "Immortals'" Theseus, Zeus's favorite, is a likable agnostic until he sees proof of the Gods' existence. At the core, he's a good man, virtuous warrior, and reluctant, though natural, leader. No, this does not make "Immortals" a classic, but it is an entertaining romp in the familiar genre of Mythological rewrites.