WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS SPOILED HERE

“Is it just me or is this movie very similar to Titanic?”

This is the question I asked my friends last weekend as we devoured junk food at the drive-ins. Maybe it was the lack of the full Dolby sound experience of a normal cinema, but ‘Pompeii’ quite simply was underwhelming. Yes, admittedly, our decision to watch this film was highly influenced by our desire to admire Jon Snow’s (Kit Harington – but who actually calls him that anyway) amazing six-pack prior to the return of ‘Game of Thrones’ early next month. In that case, I’d like to congratulate the director Paul W. S. Anderson on finally convincing Jon Snow (yes, you have to say it in that accent) to lose the animal coats and fur, and train up to play a buff gladiatior. In terms of the narrative however, I’m afraid he can’t be cogratulated.

The film begins in Britannia, 79 AD where Milo (Snow/Harington) is a gladiator – and a successful one at that. He is, like the other gladiators, a slave, and is transported to Pompeii where there are political issues with the Roman General Corvus (Kiefer Sutherland) who wants to change Pompeii to suit the Romans’ needs. He also wants the young Cassia (Emily Browning) who is quite creeped out by his advances and only has eyes for the bad boy – Milo (don’t we all). There’s some backstory about revenge Milo wishes to seek on his family’s death, and another gladiator Atticus – who’s deep-throated announcements; “It is the mountain” are more comical than prophetic – who wants to secure his freedom from slavery. Behind all of that is the constant, impending doom that Mt Vesuvius signifies.

The geography of the film is quite confusing and can be easily misunderstood – “Wait, where are they?” “Why are they going there?” – were the questions raised between us friends. The motives behind the movements are skipped over quickly and some of the action is a little too convenient in serving the story progression. The character’s motivations aren’t put to the forefront enough either; for example, Milo’s wish to seek revenge is overshadowed by his desire to woo Cassia – a storyline that assumes that because both characters are shown in close-up, looking at one another, that they are instantly in love. There is no real understanding of what draws Milo to Cassia, other than her beauty.

It wasn’t even half way through the film that I recognised the similarities between ‘Pompeii’ and ‘Titanic’, which made me wonder how much of the film’s disaster structure influenced Anderson’s film. The love-story between a poor, arrogant, adventurous and good-looking guy, and a rich, rebellious, and royal girl who is trying to carve out her own life; is almost identical to both films. The fact that they both must try to survive a doomed scenario while everything crumbles around them also occurs in both. Things become even more clearer when the pompous and misogynistic General decides he is going to have Cassia no matter what, even if it means *gasp* killing her one true love, Milo.

Perhaps it just follows the conventions of a disaster film, but the likeness to the famous ‘Titanic’ meant that the film became super predictable for my friends and I. “Oh yep, now she’s going to die”, “I could see that coming from the start”, were all thrown around at important plot points where the twist was more like a typical Hollywood 45 degree turn. Rather than being afraid for the characters, we were hanging out for Atticus’ booming “It is the mountain” announcements to provide some entertainment. The most interesting scene in the film for me is when Milo and Atticus are ambushed in the ring by, basically, an army. The direction of the action and suspense generated was undoubtedly the best part of the film – cue applause. The graphics, and video-game style directing of the action scenes, and of Mt Vesuvius itself must be appreciated, however the narrative was let down in favour of the technical aspect of the film.

If you’ve seen ‘Pompeii’ and still don’t agree with my comparison to ‘Titanic’ then perhaps you should look at the final scene of the film. Trying to escape the wrath of Mt Vesuvius, Milo and Cassia ride horseback, but the poor horse can’t (of course) carry them both to safety. In a complete ‘of course that was going to happen’ moment, Milo tells Cassia to save herself and leave him behind. In a classic ‘there’s not enough room on the door, Rose – except there is’ moment, surprisingly Cassia decides to stay with Milo as they both die together. The emotion portrayed by Di Caprio and Winslet far surpasses that by Harington and Browning, whose chemistry just isn’t there.

Maybe that was the problem all along, there was no real emotion portrayed from the actors to make the plot believable, because trust me I didn’t shed a tear during ‘Pompeii’ but bawled buckets (and still will) during ‘Titanic’.