Janet Scott Batchler
Lee Batchler
Kit Harington
Emily Browning
Carrie-Anne Moss
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Jessica Lucas
Jared Harris
Jeremy Bolt
Paul W. S. Anderson
Robert Kulzer
Constantin Film
TriStar Pictures
FilmDistrict
Lionsgate
Pompeii is a 2014 3D romantic historical disaster film produced and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. It was released on February 21, 2014.
Synopsis[]
A slave-turned-gladiator finds himself in a race against time to save his true love, who has been betrothed to a corrupt Roman Senator. As Mount Vesuvius erupts, he must fight to save his beloved as Pompeii crumbles around him.
Plot[]
In Britannia, 62 AD, a tribe of Celtic horsemen are brutally wiped out by Romans led by Corvus. The only survivor is a boy named Milo, whose mother Corvus personally killed. The boy is captured by slave traders.
Seventeen years later, in Londinium in 79 A.D., a slave owner named Graecus watches a class of gladiators battle. He is unimpressed until he sees the grown Milo, a talented gladiator the crowds call "the Celt". Milo is soon brought to Pompeii with his fellow slaves. On the road, they see a horse fall while drawing a carriage carrying Cassia, returning after a year in Rome, and her servant Ariadne. Milo kills the horse to end its suffering and Cassia is drawn to him. Cassia is the daughter of the city governor Severus and his wife Aurelia . Severus is hoping to have the new Emperor Titus invest in plans to rebuild Pompeii but Cassia warns him of Rome becoming more corrupt. A servant named Felix takes Cassia’s horse Vires for a ride only to be swallowed up when a quake from Mount Vesuvius opens up the ground under him.
In Pompeii, Milo soon develops a rivalry with Atticus, a champion gladiator who, by Roman law, will be given his freedom after he earns one more victory. The gladiators are shown off at a party where Corvus, now a Senator, tells Severus the Emperor will not invest in his plans but he himself will. It is revealed Cassia left Rome to escape Corvus’s advances. When an earthquake causes some horses to become anxious, Milo helps calm one down. He then takes Cassia on a ride, telling her that they cannot be together. Returning to the villa, Corvus is ready to kill Milo (not recognizing him from the village massacre) but Cassia pleads for his life. Milo is lashed for his actions and Atticus admits respect for his rival as they prepare to face each other at the upcoming festival.
In the Amphitheatre of Pompeii, to punish Milo, Corvus orders him killed in the first battle and wicked trainer Bellator (Currie Graham) convinces Graecus to sacrifice Atticus as well. The two men, and other gladiators, are chained to rocks as other gladiators come out as Roman soldiers, to recreate Corvus’s victory over the Celts. Working together, Milo and Atticus survive the battle; Atticus realizes the Romans will never honor his freedom. During the battle, Corvus forces Cassia to agree to marry him by threatening to have her family killed for supposed treason against the Emperor. When Milo and Atticus win, Cassia defies Corvus by holding a “thumbs-up” for them to live and he has her taken to the villa to be locked up. Claiming an earthquake is a sign from Vulcan, Corvus has his officer Proculus fight Milo one-on-one. Their battle is interrupted when Mount Vesuvius erupts, creating massive tremors that cause the arena to collapse, sending Milo and Proculus crashing to the dungeons. Milo opens up the gates to allow his fellow gladiators a chance to attack; Proculus escapes while the gladiators kill Bellator. Seeing Corvus fallen under a collapsed beam, Severus tries to kill him, but Corvus stabs him and escapes.
The eruption sends flaming debris raining down upon the city as the populace tries to flee to the harbor. One fireball destroys and sinks a ship, killing the escaping Graecus. Aurelia tells Milo that Cassia is at the villa before dying. Milo races to the villa and manages to save Cassia, but Ariadne is killed when the villa collapses into the Mediterranean Sea. Atticus tries to reach the harbor, but a tsunami created by the volcano smashes into the city, destroying the harbour and the outer walls and smashing several ships. Reuniting with Atticus, Milo suggests searching the arena for horses to escape. As the gladiators face Roman soldiers at the arena, Cassia sees to the bodies of her parents, only to be abducted by Corvus. Atticus has Milo chase after the chariot carrying the two while he faces off against Proculus. Atticus is mortally wounded in the duel, but he manages to break the blade and uses it to stab Proculus.
Milo chases Corvus across the city, both barely avoiding fireballs and collapsing roads and buildings. Cassia manages to free herself before the chariot crashes into the Temple of Apollo. Milo and Corvus duel as a fireball destroys the temple. Cassia chains Corvus to a building as Milo declares that his gods are coming to punish the Senator. Milo and Cassia ride off as a pyroclastic surge races into the city, incinerating Corvus. At the arena, Atticus proudly proclaims that he dies a free man before the surge consumes him. At the city outskirts, the horse throws off Milo and Cassia. Milo tells Cassia to leave alone, realising the horse isn't fast enough to carry them both. Instead, she sends the horse off, not wanting to spend her last moments running as she knows that they will not outrun the surge. Milo kisses Cassia as the surge engulfs them. The last shot is of the duo's petrified bodies, locked in an eternal embrace.
Cast[]
- Kit Harington as Milo
- Dylan Schombing as young Milo
- Emily Browning as Cassia
- Kiefer Sutherland as Senator Quintas Attius Corvus
- Carrie-Anne Moss as Aurelia
- Jared Harris as Severus
- Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Atticus
- Jessica Lucas as Ariadne
- Joe Pingue as Graecus
- Currie Graham as Bellator
- Sasha Roiz as Marcus Proculus
- Dalmar Abuzeid as Felix
- Jean-Francois Lachapelle as Milo's Father
- Rebecca Eady as Milo's Mother
- Dinesh Singh as Koyochi
- Nimish Kelkar as Jambola
- Kit Harington as Milo