( CNN ) -- Greece may be in an economic mess these days , but the ancient gods are back in vogue , at least in Hollywood , where the success of `` 300 '' and `` Percy Jackson '' novelist Rick Riordan has not gone unnoticed . Combine that with today 's computer-generated visuals , which allow you to conjure up armies of extras at the press of a button , and `` Immortals '' virtually writes itself . ( In fact the dour , humorless screenplay is credited to Charley and Vias Parlapanides . ) Less `` 300 2 '' than `` 300 3D , '' `` Immortals '' is a sledgehammer action spectacle interspersed with bouts of enervating pseudo-philosophical discourse and moments of fine visual embellishment . Rising star Henry Cavill ( `` The Tudors '' and Zack Snyder 's `` Man of Steel '' ) is Theseus , a Hellenic commoner who never knew his father , but who has found a kindly mentor in a wise old man who schools him in sword fighting , ethics and such . What Theseus does n't know is that the old guy ( played by John Hurt on Earth and Luke Evans when mortal eyes are n't peeking ) is actually Zeus , the king of the gods , who has been grooming the lad to lead the Hellenics against the onslaught of the blood-thirsty Hyperion ( Mickey Rourke ) . If Hyperion gets his mitts on the Bow of Epirus ( archery 's answer to a ballistic missile ) , he 'll free the Titans and all hell will break loose . Why does n't Zeus intervene directly ? Apparently that 's against the divine rules , though the Olympians are n't above bending them whenever Hyperion seems on the verge of a decisive blow . Wearing scrummy gold outfits that would n't look out of place in a Vegas toga party , the gods are the Hellenics ' pinch-hitters supreme . Director Tarsem Singh ( `` The Fall , '' `` The Cell '' ) is a fabulist ; more than anything , he wants his images to shine . And they do , in places . A vision of celestials locked in permanent heavenly combat -- inspired by the Sistine Chapel -- is simply breathtaking . ( It 's virtually the last thing we see in the movie , but before you shout `` spoiler , '' it 's also the poster image . ) The costume and design are often out of this world . And yet the movie 's landscape is a disappointingly barren digital domain , the same gray cliffs , deserts and seas familiar from `` 300 '' and so many game-worlds . It 's not just that this is visually blah ( though it is ) , it 's also as inherently artificial and airless as any studio movie of the 1930s or 40s . When Singh 's camera catches a sun-flare at morning or dusk , it 's supposed to imbue the shot with a sense of reality . But because that sunbeam is patently just another digital effect , it actually accomplishes the opposite : it falsifies the actors ' environment and reminds us this is n't really happening . ( I counted the trick three times . ) To my eyes , the 3D only makes the movie look phonier ; the actors often seem to exist in a different visual plane to their surroundings . They might as well be performing in front of cardboard flats . Still , in Rourke , Cavill , Evans , Stephen Dorff ( as Theseus ' sidekick Stavros ) , and Frieda Pinto ( as the so-called `` Virgin Oracle '' ) , Tarsem has cast actors strong or pretty enough to hold us through the movie 's turgid breast-beating , grisly violence and numbskull plotting . There are n't many flicks that Mickey Rourke ca n't perk up , and here he 's adorned in the full enchilada , even more scars than nature intended , a shimmering silver face mask , and a bonnet that seems to have been modeled on a Venus flytrap . Another ( this is a heck of a mad-hatter 's movie ) has horns like a lobster claw -- or a jackass . In short , the plumage is eye-catching but the meat does n't have much flavor . The stuff of legend it ai n't .
The film stars Henry Silva who would also be the ` ` Man of Steel '' William Hurt and Luke Evans share the role of Zeus , king of the gods . The movie offers the usual special effects , but Hurt says it 's ` ` visually blah ''