Pompeii (2014) - Another mixed action bag from Anderson

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+ Most Deserved Flop of the Year  + Most Expensive Flop of the Year: 42.88 mil. $ range 

 

A loving embrace in front of a gorgeous display of apocalyptic volcanic eruption makes up this striking poster for Paul W.S. Anderson's Pompeii

A British army leader visits the Roman city of Pompeii and makes an impression at the local gladiator stadium, until Mount Vesuvius' volcano erupts and in a short timespan turns the entire city into a wasteland of lava, fire and ashes.

  

Pompeii is written by Janet Scott Batchler, Lee Batchler (Batman Forever (1995), both) and Michael Robert Johnson (Sherlock Holmes (2009)) and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson (Shopping (1994)). It is based on the actual destruction of Pompeii in Campania, Italy in 79 AD.

Anderson is and always will be a craftsman in the filmmaking business and specifically the action genre, - but he's no inspired nor a great craftsman. Here he throws beefcakes, forgettable Emily Browning (Golden Exits (2017)), a tsunami and Kiefer Sutherland (Flatliners (2017)) as a sibilant, deeply villainous Brit, (you try if you can abstract from who he really is here), after the fatal demise of Pompeii.

The volcanic eruption is handled in good-looking CGI, while other parts of the contraption, - especially when actors from green screen recordings get injected into designed surroundings, - look unconvincing. It is putting it mildly to say that there is no grand story spun behind this tapestry of destruction, and Kit Harrington's (Brimstone (2016)) delicious locks of hair and razor-cut abs are about all you can admire him for in Pompeii. Carrie-Anne Moss (Jessica Jones (2015-19)) is attractive (and seems tired) in a non-role, while Jared Harris (Chernobyl (2019, miniseries)) and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Wetlands (2017)) manage to instill some personality into their characters and be actually good here.

 

Related posts:

 

Paul W.S. Anderson: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Alien vs. Predator/AVP (2004) - No one wins with Anderson's fundamentally bad monster clash

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 80-100 mil. $ (different accounts)

Box office: 117.8 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.30 times its cost)

[Pompeii premiered 18 February (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and runs 105 minutes. Shooting took place from March - July 2013 in Italy and in Toronto, Ontario. The film opened #3, behind holdover hit The Lego Movie and fellow new release 3 Days to Kill, to a 10.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 23.2 mil. $ (19.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 15.6 mil. $ (13.2 %) and Russia with 11.3 mil. $ (10 %). The film additionally made an estimated 8.9 mil. $ on the North-American home video market. Anderson returned with Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016). Harrington returned with a voice performance in How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) and with a physical performance in Testament of Youth (2014). Pompeii is rotten at 27 % with a 4.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Pompeii? 

Alien vs. Predator/AVP (2004) - No one wins with Anderson's fundamentally bad monster clash

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+ Most Undeserved Hit of the Year

The titular movie monsters of Paul W.S. Anderson's Alien vs. Predator come together on the poster with the film's seemingly accidentally honest tagline, - which makes it clear that audiences are in for a loss

Alien vs. Predator is an uninteresting spin-off, based on a 1989 comic book, which merges the two great alien-centered franchises, Alien and Predator.

Far below the Antarctica lies a pyramid, which some scientist types somehow awaken to life, and an intergalactic war between two extraterrestrial monster species takes form.

Whatever Lance Henriksen (Dark Awakening (2014)) is doing in this movie, I don't know; he played the robot Bishop in Aliens (1986) beautifully, - here he's another character in the plot set some 150 years before that movie takes place, who then supposedly later becomes the model for the future robot...
Building suspense, or creating engaging, full characters and/or scenes have either not been a priority for the three-person script team behind Alien vs. Predator, or they have just totally failed in their attempts. The responsible are Dan O'Bannon (Alien (1979)), Ronald Shusett (Total Recall (1990)), who both supplied story elements, and writer/director Paul W. S. Anderson (Resident Evil (2002)). Why the first two writers have felt obligated or enticed to do this to their fine, initial work in the Alien franchise is beyond me. Anderson, on the other hand, is a juggernaut of pointless action shlock such as this and seems permanently out of reach.
Alien vs. Predator is big and noisy, and that's about all you will remember from it just a few hours after having seen it. Take my advice: Try and avoid it.

Related posts:

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
The Alien franchise: Prometheus (2012) or, Even Then, Space Eggs Were Bad News
Alien: Resurrection (1997) or, Queen of the Goo Massacre! 
Alien 3 (1992) or, The Monsters Go to Jail!
Aliens (1986) or, Alien War
Alien (1979) or, Space Eggs Are Bad News!   
The Predator franchise: Predators (2010) - Antal, Rodriguez and Brody successfully take the sci-fi-action franchise back

Watch a short 'chest-burster' scene from the film here

Cost: 60 mil. $
Box office: 172.5 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 2.87 times its cost)
[Alien vs. Predator premiered 12 August (Puerto Rico and Thailand) and runs 101 minutes. The two central Alien master filmmakers, Ridley Scott (Alien) and James Cameron (Aliens (1986)) were both opposed to the film, however Cameron has later stated that he "liked it a lot." The story was set about 150 years before the first Alien (1979) and after Predator (1987), designed not to clash with anything already established in the franchises. Shooting took place in Italy, France and in Prague, the Czech Republic from October 2003 - ?. No less than 10 production companies were involved in the production. The film opened #1 to a 38.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#4) and grossed a handsome 80.2 mil. $ (46.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 16.1 mil. $ (9.3 %) and the UK with 9.3 mil. $ (5.4 %). An even worse sequel, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) was made. The Predator franchise was rebooted with Predators (2010), and the Alien franchise had its next real chapter in Prometheus (2012). Anderson returned with Drift (2006, TV movie) and theatrically with Death Race (2008). Sanaa Lathan (Repentance (2013)) returned in The Golden Blaze (2005, video) and theatrically in Something New (2006); Raoul Bova (Ever Been to the Moon?/Sei Mai Stata Sulla Luna? (2015)) in Giovani Talenti Italiani (2004, video), Karol: A Man Who Became Pope/Karol, un Uomo Diventato Papa (2005, TV movie) and theatrically in I'll Do It Tonight/Stasera lo Faccio (2005); Henriksen in Keep Right (2004, short) and theatrically in Modigliani (2004). Alien vs. Predator is rotten at 21 % with a 4.06/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Alien vs. Predator?