I was really excited for Immortals because I have enjoyed the work of the film’s director, Tarsem. Also it looked like a stylized action movie with stunning visuals.
I wasn’t disappointed.
The movie was gorgeous and I really liked its art and style. I didn’t think the story was that great, but it provided enough of a narrative for all of the pretty images on the screen. Below are some thoughts I had about the movie and insights it gave me into our lives with God.
Faith
Immortals takes place in ancient Greece at a time when people still worshipped gods like Zeus, Poseidon and Athena. Not everyone worships the gods, though, and faith is a central theme to the movie. The main character Theseus has lost faith in the gods in spite of his mother’s faith and devotion. One character mentions that he had faith in the gods as a boy but, when he didn’t get a horse he asked for, he stopped believing. Faith is more than just believing in something passed down to us or because good things happen to us. Faith isn’t a feeling, it’s a choice to believe even in the face of difficulties, even when it’s hard. It’s those difficult seasons that shape and deepen our faith, which cannot happen if we abandon it.
Imminence
In Immortals Zeus, Poseidon and Athena are distant from humanity. They see everything that happens yet they don’t regularly interact. Instead of engaging with the everyday affairs of humanity, they are mostly content to sit atop Olympus disconnected from the world. The gods of Greek mythology couldn’t be any different from Yahweh, the God of Israel. God is completely imminent, which means he is here with us. God is engaged with humanity, everything moves and has its being through him. He’s not just sitting in heaven somewhere out there, but he is here with us. And there is no better example of God’s imminence than Jesus Christ, who was Immanuel, God with us. Sometimes people lose faith because they think God is distant but he’s not. He’s always here and he’s always working, we just need to look for him and have eyes to see.
Violence
Immortals is a fairly violent movie. There’s a lot of swordplay and large-scale action scenes. I really love a good action movie and I get all hyped up during fight scenes. While I like violence in movies I detest it everywhere else. I don’t like watching boxing, I cringe at the thought of watching UFC and I’m turned off of hockey because of all the fights. Violence isn’t a good thing. Jesus was called the Prince of Peace when he came to earth. God wants us to beat our swords into plowshares and completely do away with violence. I don’t think we’ll experience that fully until Christ returns but we can be honest about the violence and anger in our lives. And maybe a good way of addressing that anger is watching action movies. Also good, probably better, is talking to a friend.
I liked Immortals for what it was. It was rated R, though, so you’ll have to decide if it’s something you want to watch. I was entertained for two hours and the movie even made me examine my faith and the reasons I believe. Any movie where a dude gets stabbed in the face with a spear and makes me examine my faith is all right in my book.
Did you see Immortals? What did you think?
It’s probably one of the best-looking films of the whole year (yet, I still haven’t seen Tree of Life) and the action is awesome and in-you-face which is something I always like. The story dragged on a bit and I couldn’t help but think that if the writing was a tweaked a little better, this would have definitely been a very solid film. Instead it was just fun and pretty to look at. Good review. Check out mine when you get the chance.