Science Fiction World

We’ve been unusually quiet about Tarsem Singh’s forthcoming 3D epic of Greek mythology, Immortals. Although details about the production have been scanty, there have nonetheless been a few impressive stills released, and a teaser trailer in May certainly got our attention, but it’s fair to say that our enthusiasm for 3D epics based on Greek mythology took a battering with Louis Leterrier’s disastrous Clash of the Titans remake. And like Letterier’s movie, Singh’s US$100 million Greek epic will be converted to 3D in post-production, and that, after all, was the downfall of Leterrier’s movie.

Relativity Media's release today of the full trailer for Immortals has gone a long way to restoring our faith however: it looks awesome, and I don’t use that word lightly. Two of the Producers behind Zack Snyder’s 300 (Gianni Nunnari and Mark Canton) are involved with the production and 300’s very stylised pedigree is obvious, but Director Tarsem Singh is known for his artistry and there appear to be many more layers to his vision in Immortals than a simple comparison to 300 would suggest.

Back in January 09, when the movie was still called War of the Gods (or Dawn of War), Singh told Empire, "It’s  turning into, basically, Caravaggio meets Fight Club. It’s a really hardcore action film done in Renaissance painting style. I want to see how that goes; it’s turned into something really cool… I’m going for a very contemporary look on top of that so I’m kind of going with, you know, Renaissance time with electricity. So it’s a bit like Baz Luhrman doing Romeo + Juliet in Mexico; it’s just taking a particular Greek tale and half contemporising it and telling it."

The Luhrman comparison is a little misleading as Singh is clearly not contemporising the setting as Luhrman did with Romeo + Juliet, it's the visual style and direction that have a more contemporary look. But judging by the new trailer, Singh knew what he was trying to achieve, and you can clearly see what he means by a Renaissance painting style (check it out below).

Immortals is only Singh’s third movie following The Cell in 2000 and the underrated The Fall (2006). The story is loosely based on the legend of Theseus (Henry Cavill), demi-god son of Poseidon, and founder of Athens. The King of Crete, Hyperion (Mickey Rourke), has declared war on humanity and leads his ruthless Heraklion army on a bloody rampage across Greece. Hyperion’s army destroys everything in its path and appears to be unstoppable. The gods themselves are forbidden to intervene directly according to ancient law, but instead they furnish mankind with a hero in the form of Theseus, a village stonemason intent on revenge when his village is raided by Hyperion’s men and his mother is killed. When Theseus meets the Sybelline Oracle, Phaedra (Freida Pinto), her disturbing visions of his future convince her that he is the key to stopping the destruction. With her help, Theseus assembles a small band of followers and embraces his destiny in a final desperate battle for the future of humanity.

Is King Hyperion a mortal or could he be the Titan Hyperion in disguise, one of the defeated Elder Gods? You'll find both possibilities discussed elsewhere, but according to our reliable contact, Hyperion is a mortal man. The king rampages across the land in search of the Bow of Epirus, an invincible weapon of legend created by Ares, God of War. With the bow Hyperion means to free the Titans from their imprisonment in Tartarus. Defeated by the upstart Olympian gods in an ancient war known to legend as the Titanomachy, the Titans will take Hyperion's war to the Olympian Gods themselves. 

If Singh can pull this off, as the trailer suggests he has, it should be thrilling stuff.

All that concerns me about this project is that the footage will be converted to 3D in post-production, and we can only hope that lessons have been learned from Warner Bros’s disastrous attempt to do the same with Clash of the Titans.

Immortals is directed by Tarsem Singh and produced by Gianni Nunnari, Mark Canton and Ryan Kavanaugh; the screenplay was written by Charles Parlapanides and Vlas Parlapanides; it stars Henry Cavill, Stephen Dorff, Isabel Lucas, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, Kellan Lutz, John Hurt and Mickey Rourke (thank the gods for giving Mickey Rourke a second bite of the apple!). Singh’s next project is The Brothers Grimm: Snow White due in 2012.

Immortals will get a theatrical release on the very memorable date of 11 November 2011 (11/11/11).

Here's the new full trailer:

Here's the original teaser trailer:

Or you can watch both trailers on the official Immortal's YouTube channel here.