Apocalypse Pompeii (2014)

Good movie but grossly overrated

Better Late Then Never

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The hero of the story, played by Adrian Paul, steals a helicopter to try and rescue his wife and daughter from an eruption of the famous volcano Vesuvius. They were visiting Pompeii and happen to be volcano experts, so they always know what's coming next: the heatwave, the toxic gas... But they have to hide in the cellar of a museum to wait for a team of mercenaries, who were coincidentally on stand-by when dad needed them. The helicopter crashes, and then they have to look for another way out...The movie was mainly shot in Bulgaria, with a few location shots from Naples added. Many scenes of the movie take place in cellars where people find shelter, and that is quite clever because it gives the audience some time to get to know the characters, and the makers of the movie didn't have to rely too much on special effects which could only be poor in a low budget flick, anyway. Still the movie left me slightly disappointed due to the very simple story. The location of Pompeii begs for historical references, and also one or two surprising turns would have been nice.

This "movie", Ladies and Gentlemen, is the reason IMDb should have a "Zero" rating. We, The Good People of the World, must be able to exercise our Roger Ebert given right to vote "Zero Stars" for a load of crap like Apocalypse Pompeii.Writing that is worse than, well anything I can think of - Worse acting than a Wayan brothers movie - Worse directing than Michael Bay (Where are you Alan Smithee?) - Laughable special effects - Etc - Etc - EtcThis is a movie so bad that you should not even download it from (insert your favorite torrent site here)

I liked the movie about as much as I liked any Asylum movie and that is to say pretty well. You have to know what you are getting into here with these kinds of movies and not have your expectations set so high is basically my opinion. Sure we can go through and ask why didn't they do this and why didn't they do that and why were the special effects worse than many video games and why was did the acting inspire me to think that maybe I could be an actor too if that's all it takes but you just have to set all that aside when you sit down to watch these movies and just take pleasure in them for what they are, a mildly entertaining distraction but one that like a book challenges you to use your own imagination a bit more than your Hollywood blockbusters that allow you to just sit back and have yourself fully immersed in the experience with little to no effort required on your part. Anyway, my advice is to substantially lower your expectations and then you will enjoy your movie much more. It's what I do and I've yet to be disappointed.

Another cash-in on a potential blockbuster by none other than The Asylum, of course. There is no doubt about that "Apocalypse Pompeii" has seen the light of day because of the forthcoming "Pompeii" movie, just as what The Asylum did when "Pacific Rim" was about to come out, then they put out "Atlantic Rim", or the "Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies" just prior to "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer" came out.Nevertheless, then I will say that "Apocalypse Pompeii" is actually not as bad as to be expected, and The Asylum did manage to put together a decent enough movie here. Sure, this is not a groundbreaking innovation in movie history, but still, it is enjoyable to watch - despite its predictability and cliché stereotypical built up.The story is about an American family who has moved to Italy, and while the father Jeff (played by Adrian Paul) has to go to an important meeting, then his wife Lynne (played by Jhey Castles) and daughter Mykaela (played by Georgina Beedle) go to the ruins of Pompeii. A natural disaster takes place, causing Mount Vesuvio to erupt and the tourists trapped in Pompeii struggle to stay alive. Acting against the Italian government and American army, Jeff and his band of soldiers steal a helicopter to go to Pompeii to rescue his wife and daughter.That was basically the entire storyline summarized in a few lines. The story is so predictable and cliché that it just drips with stereotypical ooze. There are no surprises here, and you see everything coming a mile away.The acting in the movie was adequate for a movie of this caliber.All in all, then "Apocalypse Pompeii" is good enough entertainment for a single viewing if you have nothing better at hand to watch or nothing better to do.