When a Former Special Ops commando visits Pompeii, his wife and daughter are trapped as Mt. Vesuvius erupts with massive force. While his family fights to survive the deadly onslaught of heat and lava, he enlists his former teammates in a daring operation beneath the ruins of Pompeii.
I’ve seen a lot worse….though this is hardly a ringing endorsement.
Apocalypse Pompeii is a production of The Asylum—a film production company known for making so-called ‘mockbusters’. These mockbusters are films that are released to coincide with the release of big studio epics in order to capitalize on the hubbub surrounding the big-budget movies. They feature titles that are VERY similar to the bigger films—and the movie poster for Apocalypse Pompeii looks an awful lot like that of the upcoming Pompeii! A few other examples of their films are Atlantic Rim, Death Racers, American Battleship, Snakes on a Train and many others. They also are the same folks who have given us the Sharknado franchise. Because of this, it’s obvious the film will have a low budget and very modest pretensions—and most likely will be a film you’ll see coming direct to DVD. Despite all this, it is surprising to see that the film actually was shot, in part, in Pompeii as well as Bulgaria?! Also, the plot is radically different from Pompeii—with the big budget film being set in ancient times and the mockbuster being set in the present.
The film begins with a prologue showing some Hispanic family fleeing in terror from a volcano eruption. Oddly, however, this has almost nothing to do with the film—a film set on the other side of the globe in Italy! After the credits roll, you see a family in Naples. The father has a business meeting and he’s brought his wife and teenage daughter with him. While he’s at his big meeting, the rest of the family goes to an outing to nearby Pompeii—site of a huge mega-explosion that killed thousands in 79 A.D.. Not surprisingly, soon after the pair arrives at Pompeii, the mountain explodes—and folks run for cover. Fortunately for those who teamed up with the wife and daughter is the fact that the teen knows MORE about volcanoes and how to survive them than a team of volcanologist!! This all-knowing girl, again and again, knows EXACTLY what to do and helps this group survive long enough for the father to become a Rambo-like action hero! The dad (of course) is some sort of ex-military genius and he instantly assembles a team to help him steal a helicopter from a military base (!!) and head to Pompeii to look for his family. If it sounds like the plot is stupid and filled with significant plot problems, then you are pretty much right on the mark!
So is the film 100% bad? No. As I mentioned above, it does have some actual footage of Pompeii. It also keeps your interest, as the pace and music work fairly well and SOME of the acting is competent. Unfortunately, the plot is stupid and the characters are shallow—often coming off as caricatures. I wouldn’t rush out to buy a copy or rent the film. Instead, I’d wait until it most likely shows up on the SyFy Channel and watch it if you have absolutely nothing else to do (and that includes washing your hair, checking your air conditioner filters and breathing).
Reviewed by TheLittleSongbird1 / 10
A real disaster of a disaster movie, nothing redeeming about it at all
That it is from The Asylum is a big indicator of what to expect, though they’ve had a few tolerable exceptions. Apocalypse Pompeii is not quite bad enough to be down there with their bottom-of-the-barrel movies but it is very, very close. Not even the Bulgarian/Naples scenery or John Rhys Davies- who usually is one of the better assets of bad movies- can save it. The movie is edited far too choppily and looks far too drab for us to appreciate the scenery(a shame seeing as there is some beautiful scenery in Bulgaria and Naples). And while Davies is the least bad actor in the cast, he really does do his best, he is sadly wasted with very clumsy dialogue and an insignificant character. When the movie wastes the best and the most well-known actor, that tells you all you know about how truly horrendous the acting is. Adrian Paul in particular is unbearably wooden, carrying Apocalypse Pompeii who no charisma or spark at all. Apocalypse Pompeii joins the already large group of Asylum movies that contains attractive women whose best acting they can come up with is acting vapid. There have been worse special effects, however that’s saying very little as the special effects here are dire being poorly textured and very artificial-looking. The dialogue is awkward-sounding and unforgivably dumb, the “snappy” banter making the toes curl. Any attempts at drama is taken to melodramatic, ham-fisted and mawkishly-sentimental-to-giving-you-a-cavity levels. The story is far too ridiculous to be taken seriously and is far too dull to be entertained or engaged with it. The severe lack of thrills, suspense, fun and tension, as well as nobody seeming indifferent to what’s happening, makes the atmosphere completely unconvincing to non-existence, an example of a disaster movie with absolutely nothing to it. We don’t give a damn about any of the characters either and the director is as flat as a badly made pancake. In conclusion, for a disaster movie Apocalypse Pompeii is an epic disaster with no redeeming values, anything potentially redeeming such as the scenery and a dependable actor like John Rhys-Davies are gone to waste(which is unforgivable). 1/10 Bethany Cox
Bad, very bad
APOCALYPSE POMPEII is your usual trashy disaster movie that comes courtesy of Asylum, who released it as a rip-off of the not-much-better POMPEII. This one sees former HIGHLANDER Adrian Paul escorting his family around the ruins of Pompeii when Vesuvius erupts again, plunging them all into danger. The whole story sees various characters assailed by the usual heat surges, ash clouds, and lava, and it plays out in a shlocky and cheap-looking way with a maximum of cheesy CGI effects. The old-timer of the cast is none other than John Rhys-Davies, playing the same military role as he one he had in 100 DEGREES BELOW ZERO, and it says something that even his presence doesn’t raise a smile.
