DVD Review: Pompeii (M)

Kit Harington plays slave/gladiator Milo and Emily Browning plays his true love Cassia.

Pompeii
(M) Roadshow Entertainment
3.5 stars

Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius will forever be linked by the devastating eruption that destroyed the city.

The once thriving market town at the foot of the rumbling giant was obliterated in one of history's greatest eruptions.

Set in AD79, this is the story of the eruption told through the eyes of a slave/gladiator Milo (Kit Harington) and his true love Cassia (Emily Browning).

Cassia was the beautiful daughter of a wealthy Pompeii merchant who lived a life of privilege.

Milo, a Celt whose family was massacred by the Romans, has been forced to live as a slave and fight for his life as a gladiator.

From the first moment they set eyes on each other, Milo and Cassia are destined to be together, if fate allows it.

But Cassia has also attracted the attentions of corrupt Roman Senator Corvus (Kiefer Sutherland), who covets her as his wife.

Milo somehow must first survive in the arena before finding a path to freedom that will allow him to join Cassia.

But all the while Vesuvius grows increasingly restless until it finally snaps.

With ash, lava and the resulting tsunami fast destroying Pompeii, Milo's race to save Cassia from Corvus and escape the disaster grows more and more difficult. As both a historical drama and a love story, Pompeii delivers a most watchable story and an insight into the terror that must have gripped this town all those years ago.