I’ve always had a fascination with Pompeii since I had to do a skit on it when I was in school. The scale of the damage from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, the sudden and apocalyptic nature of the event and the backdrop of the Roman Empire makes for a captivating story.
Which is pretty much what Pompeii relies on. Much of it is standard disaster-tale fare, not as skillfully made as Titanic but not unenjoyable. Pompeii eschews the length of Titanic, giving up the depth of the earlier film to more quickly get to the disaster. That’s both a good and a bad thing; while the audience isn’t waiting around too long for the disaster we know is coming, the resulting film is far less ambitious. Milo (Kit Harington) and Cassia (Emily Browning) — the star-crossed lovers in this tale — will not go down in movie history with Jack and Rose on a list of great disaster-film romances.
In fact, the most compelling character in the film might be Atticus, Milo’s fellow slave, rival and friend, played nicely by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. On the other hand, Kiefer Sutherland does a regrettable job portraying Corvus, a corrupt Roman senator who veers between a genuinely intriguing villain and a strutting absurdity in Sutherland’s hands. And Sutherland spends far too much time in the latter category.
The result is a competently made but not particularly memorable disaster film. The final scenes, with struggles between the characters playing out against the backdrop of utter destruction, actually makes for great entertainment. But while Pompeii the city has been preserved for centuries by the tons of ash that fell on it, the film will likely be quickly forgotten.
