Jason and the Argonauts (2000)

Cast: Jason London, Frank Langella, Natasha Henstridge

Director: Nick Willing

Review:

Nick Willing failed to impress me with this movie.

The first part of the movie was dragging for me as it was both too slow and too fast paced. Scenes were poorly executed and the characters were also not introduced properly.

In this movie, one of the greatest adventures in Greek mythology comes to life. Jason, the prince of the kingdom of Ancient Greece, watched his father die at the hands of his own uncle, Pelias. He escapes death, flees his home, and returns twenty years after to reclaim his right to the throne. When Pelias knew that Jason will return, he now wants him dead, but Jason pleaded to save his life through going to a perilous quest, to bring the most coveted gift from the gods to his uncle – the Golden Fleece. He forms the Argonauts, and together, sail the boat Argo to get the Golden Fleece.

The movie's principle is to believe and take a leap of faith. Even if the quest was quite impossible for them, as none of the Argonauts knew how to sail a ship, they still went through their journey and became successful.

Jason London handled his character, Jason, fine. London's looks suited Jason as a young man that looks well like a prince. Hercules, played by Brian Thompson, definitely brought justice to his character. His buff physique really gave me the idea that he really is the divine hero of of the gods. One thing that caught my eye though, was that the actor for Orpheus was black, no racism intended. I think it just did not suit Orpheus' description or just did not suit my standards for Orpheus since we did a puppet show on his story.

The transition of the scenes, like I said, wasn't well done, most especially on the first few minutes. The introduction of the characters wasn't vivid to me, and made me think hard on who is who, or which is which. Something that was off too was that their animation for the gods, Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon were poorly made. Their faces always zoomed in and out, which made them look more comedic, rather than to look scary and powerful.

As to the sound engineering of the movie, I hadn't had much problems with it, as each sound effect was suitable for each scene, like stormy sounds when Zeus was angry and wanted to trouble Jason.

Being left with that, I'll move on it's cinematography. The setting, like deserts, temples, and etc..., showed that it really was from the olden times. Lighting made it also feel old and neutral.

But even with the movie's shortcomings, it was somehow able to tell the story well, and I could also recommend it to people who are to lazy to read his story. This movie could be for people who are more enthusiastic in watching something rather than reading from something.