Love Revenge and Eruptions!
The movie Pompeii follows the characters Milo, Cassia, Senator Corvus, and Atticus. For the most part, the main setting is Pompeii right before and during the volcanic eruption of 79. In the first scene, we are shown a flashback of Britannia, where Milo’s whole clan is slaughtered by Senator Corvus’s right-hand man Proculus because the clan is Celtic Rebels. Milo ends up surviving and being picked up by slave traders. When Milo is all grown up and has been fighting as a Gladiator in the city of Londinium. His owner, Graecus, watches Milo and decides he should be fighting in Pompeii.
On the journey to Pompeii, we meet Cassia. She is traveling there from Rome. While her carriage is passing the slaves one of her horses hurts itself, this leads to Milo putting it out of its misery. Then we see Cassia running through the city on her way to her family’s villa. At the villa, Cassia is greeted by her parents. We learn they want an imperial investment when they speak with Senator Corvus in the army camp.
The scene then shifts to the Arena. Here we meet Atticus, who is the current champion of Graecus’s gladiators and is one win away from freedom. We see the gladiators training for the Games which are set to be the next day. In the games, Atticus is set to fight Milo in the final fight of the day. During training, they fight but the Thracian’s brother tries to stab Milo. Atticus saves him, beginning their friendship. At night they are brought to Cassia’s Villa to be shown off. During the party, we learn the reason Cassia left Rome was because of interactions with the Senator.
It is time for the games and the order of fights has been changed. Milo and Atticus are part of the first fight which is a recreation of the slaughter of Milo’s people. Milo and Atticus win and upset the Senator’s plans. Vesuvius then erupts and chaos ensues. During the eruption, Milo and Atticus fight Corvus and Proculus and beat them. Milo and Cassia can finally be together but they do not escape the eruption and die in the ash. Upon watching this movie I had a few questions. I was wondering if Cassia’s father was the proconsul who was in charge of Pompeii. I was also confused about the emperor’s situation in Rome, more specifically why was calling Emperor Titus “new” a bad thing? Or did I miss something from the scene that was more an issue? Also, in regards to the announcers for the bouts in the arena, did they actually wear those masks? Even with these questions though, I thought the movie was very entertaining and a fun experience. Also, while I was not a fan of some of the inaccuracies of the eruption I did think they made for better drama. I always find it interesting that many of the Roman-based films I have watched have the antagonist being a corrupt politician, in this movie Senator Corvus in Gladiator it is Commodus.
