It's The End Of The World As They Know It... "Pompeii"

Pompeii (2014)

Rated PG-13 for gladiatorial fighting and volcanic eruption

Starring Kit Harington, Emily Browning, Kiefer Sutherland, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson

The Story:

Milo (Harington) is the last of his people.  Enslaved and forced to fight as a gladiator, he finds himself in Pompeii days before the most exciting thing to happen to that place... ever!  Of course, to get to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius itself he has to survive his impending combat with Atticus (Agbaje) an undefeated gladiator.  Add in the love story with the princess (Browning) and a chance for revenge against the man who killed his family (Sutherland).  The odds are so stacked against Milo, you almost think he's going to make it out of the movie alive!

Oops.

Spoilers.

So naturally this is based on the shocking events of Pompeii, the absolute worst volcanic eruption in the history of forever.

Not content to go straight up epic drama, Pompeii instead decides to crib from any multitude of previous stories to make one epic motion picture event.

There's a little bit of Titanic, Gladiator, Jaws and even Major League sprinkled in this feature, to name but a few.

But that's okay.

We all know going into this one how everything is going to end.

The movie itself is engaging enough that it remains watchable and mostly enjoyable throughout.

I'm giving them a thumbs up for effort.

Final Grade: B- though most would give this the C range... I'm feeling generous!

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Not in any hurry to own it, I'll be more than happy to watch it again in the future on cable or streaming.

A Disaster of Epic Proportions..."Pompeii: Back From the Dead"

Let's see Irwin Allen top that!

Too dated?? :)

The Story:

I think just about anyone who has ever attended any school of any type has at least heard of Pompeii.  The Italian city at the base of a volcano that exploded and rained ash down on the city, killing everyone under a mountain of ash and debris.  Excavations at the site continue to this day, and it appears that they have discovered something rather unusual...

From the Discovery Channel, this informative documentary hosted by Don Wildman will take you to the city of Pompeii and see how amazingly well preserved much of the city was by being buried under a 70 foot wall of ash.

70 feet... let that sink in a moment, because they actually show how high the ash was piled in the film, and it's stunning at how that city truly was buried, and how much they've uncovered and the treasures, both literal and historical, that were kept underneath.

The architecture and advancements the Romans enjoyed are still impressive, 2000 years later.  Considering the devastation of the eruption, it's amazing how much of the city really still is completely intact.

The real historical find in this one, they uncovered a basement where they found 54 skeletons.  As these had been untouched until recently, they did not receive the haunting plaster casting of earlier skeletons, so scientists could study these to learn more about the way of life of people in Pompeii during the day, and they come up with some amazing conclusions.

They also use actors to recreate what they think happened as well to add to the dramatic affair.

Very well done, and a very interesting subject.

Available to stream instantly on Netflix or Amazon Prime as of this writing.

Final Grade: B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Don't see a need to purchase, and this could come in handy for lessons on history later on for the kids.