To his credit, director Tarsem Singh Dhandwar creates a visual* world; the dramatic landscapes*, bright skies, dramatic architecture and wild costumes share similarities* but are not limited by the real world or historical locations.

    At the same time, however, it all feels cramped*, due to the fact that the actors were positioned in small spaces in front of screens upon which the backgrounds would later be filled in. Though the film is in 3D, it is almost as if you are watching actors on a stage in front of painted backdrops.

    Brother screenwriters Charles and Vlas Parlapanides simplified matters by making King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) a crazy murderer who would not only kill all those against him in Greece in the year 1228 B.C., but liberating his long-imprisoned fellow Titans* and unseating the gods of Olympus.

    To do this, Hyperion needs to find the Bow of Epirus, a weapon capable of shooting an unlimited number of magically produced arrows quickly. But people’s hero Theseus (Henry Cavill) complete the task before the king. Theseus hates the king because Hyperion killed his mother and other villagers. The hero is also encouraged by the visions of the Sybelline Oracle* Phaedra (Freida Pinto).

    The film has humor at times, but it is ruined by self-importance and windy* Socratic quotations about the immortality and divinity of men’s souls.

    Cavill is handsome and lean but increasingly displays his English accent the more he talks, something one can only hope he does less of in his future film “Man of Steel.”

    Stephen Dorff is rather less imposing as a cheeky* slave who fights alongside him and, no matter how many hints* he gives, is never going to attract the attentions of Phaedra, whose actress is just about the only one in the cast not required to shout or roar* most of her lines.

    The most eye-catching creative contribution consists of Eiko Ishioka’s sometimes striking costume designs. (SD-Agencies)