Films
(Noah + Gladiator) x (Incredible stupidity + Awful acting) = This special-effects crapbuster!
The Nastiness of Wolf Creek 2 takes on The Utter Nonsense of Pompeii and Transcendence
As preposterous as Darren Aronofsky’s Noah was, you couldn’t claim it wasn’t a serious-minded attempt to show how horrific a true, God-ordered apocalypse would be. This, on the other hand, is based on a verifiable, albeit smaller-scale, armageddon in which many lives were lost, yet it carries less emotional heft than Ouch, My Balls!, with Jim Carrey. Much of that is down to “star” Kit “John Snow” Harington, who looks like a man from a 1970s barbershop window and has the charisma of polystyrene. The terrible script and turgid pacing don’t help it any, either. Still, whenever very, very evil Kiefer Sutherland is up, eating the scenery, it’s goofily enjoyable. And obviously, once the fires start raining down, Pompeii brings the kind of massive, mindless fun that only seeing millions die horribly for our entertainment can bring. Talk about a guilty pleasure. $32 Blu-ray, $25 HD download, out now