Apparently, ancient Greece was not a good time to be a mortal. In the upcoming movie about a Titan declaring war on humanity–not to be confused with the lackluster Clash of the Titans remake (which ironically featured no titans), or its sequel, Wrath of the Titans (which does feature titans), Immortals is something of a loose retelling of the story of Theseus, the demi-god who slayed the minotaur. A very loose retelling.
Using some of the visual tricks that made 300 so distinctive, director Tarsem Singh (The Fall, The Cell) returns us to Ancient Greece where one Titan, Hyperion (Mickey Rourke), has declared war on humanity. As he hunts for the legendary Epirus Bow to free the other Titans from Tartarus and destroy Olympus, the Olympians are prohibited from actively taking sides due to old laws. Instead they help the peasant Theseus (Henry Cavill) to find the bow, and with the help of the priestess Phaedra (Freida Pinto) and the slave Stavross (Stephen Dorff), Theseus becomes the only hope form both humanity and the Gods.
In the original Theseus myth, the young demi-god, who was a son of both Poseidon and King Aegeus (things like that happened in Greek myths frequently), fell in love with the Princess Ariadne and slew the minotaur to win her hand. He then ditched her on an island on the way home. He was kind of a prick. She then cursed him to forget to change the color of his sails, and when his father King Aegus saw the black sails instead of white, he committed suicide.
But most of that will not grace the new film. The minotaur and the labyrinth will be present, but they will be set against the backdrop of a Titan trying to destroy humanity. Theseus will still be the character that founded Athens, as well as being the son (or part-son, or one-third son…) of Poseidon, and Phaedra was the sister of Adriane in the myths. But the rest of the story, including the inclusion of Hyperion, a character that was barely mentioned in the Titanomachy—the war between the Titans and Olympians—is original for the movie.
Look for Immortals in 3D on November 11, 2011 (11/11/11).
