Genre: Action/Fantasy
Director: Baltasar Kormakur
Writer: Roy Horne
Based on the video game series
Cast: Tom Hardy, Marton Csokas, Tatiana Maslany, Jessica Pare, Nick Nolte, Rade Serbedzija, Nathalie Emmanuel, Emily Ratajkowski, Priyanka Chopra, Sophie Okonedo
Plot: Kratos (Tom Hardy) stands atop a might Greek cliff overlooking the ocean. He screams in anguish that the gods have abandoned him. Kratos then jumps off of the cliff, his body hurtling toward the rocks and water below.
Three weeks earlier, Kratos is leading a Spartan army against a barbarian horde. His army is losing men fast. Kratos tries to lead the last handful of his men in a retreat. Kratos kneels behind a boulder and prays to the God of War, Ares. In his prayer, Kratos offers his life and service in exchange for helping him defeat the barbarians. Up on Mount Olympus, Ares (Marton Csokas) hears Kratos' prayer and incinerates the rest of the barbarian horde. Kratos opens his eyes and sees the enemy turned to ash around him. Ares then appears before the startled Kratos and gives him the Blades of Chaos, which are magically fused to Kratos' arms with chains. Ares tells Kratos that the blades were forged in the pits of Hades. Before he leaves, Ares orders Kratos to conquer Greece.
As Ares' servant, Kratos leads his Spartan army from village to village conquering them in the name of Sparta and Ares. In one village, Kratos makes his way through a temple where he is confronted by the village oracle (Sophie Okonedo). She tells him that the village worships Athena and will not bow down to Ares and his thugs. Kratos says that's fine, and pushes the oracle aside and sets fire to the temple. Ares then appears before Kratos and asks him if he recognizes the burning village. Kratos looks around and realizes the village is his home village. In a panic, Kratos rushes to his house, which has already been set aflame by his army. Kratos rushes inside calling for his wife Lysandra. He finally finds Lysandra (Jessica Pare) under a pile of bruning rubble. He asks her where their daughter Calliope is, but Lysandra says she is already dead. Kratos starts lifting the burning rubble off of his dying wife, but by the time he has the body cleared she has died. Kratos leaves the house and finds Ares waiting outside for him. Ares explains that Kratos has passed the test and left his humanity behind by killing the last remaining semblance of it. Kratos thell Ares that he will not serve him and walks away. Kratos makes his way into the remains of the village temple. The village oracle curses Kratos, binding the ashes of his dead family to his skin.
Kratos has taken to walking the Earth, hoping to make up for his misdeeds. Kratos sails on a small boat in the Aegean Sea toward Athens which he has heard is under siege by Ares' forces. A small storm encompasses Kratos' boat and the Hydra, a multi-headed serpent, appears and attacks Kratos' boat. Kratos leaps onto the back of the hydra and begins stabbing the beast with the Blades of Chaos. The Hydra sinks into the sea, and Kratos continues sailing to Athens.
In Athens, Kratos is approached by Athena (Tatiana Maslany) who asks him to stop Ares and save her city. Kratos agrees, but asks that the gods use their powers to wipe away his sins so that he may have a chance at redemption for the acts he committed under Ares' control. Athena agrees and tells Kratos to see the Oracle of Athens. Kratos fights his way through Ares' forces, turning them to dust with the Blades of Chaos. He finally reaches the temple to find the Oracle of Athens (Nathalie Emmanuel). He asks her how a mortal like him can kill a god like Ares. The Oracle of Athens tells him that only possessing Pandora's Box can grant such a power. She tells him that due to the gods' fear of this power, the box is locked deep with Pandora's Temple on the back of the giant Titan Cronos' back. He asks her where to find Cronos, and she tells him to go to the Desert of Lost Souls where he will find Cronos wandering until the sands rip the flesh from his bones.
When Kratos reaches the desert, he finds Pathos Verdes (Rade Serbedzija), who says he is the architect of Pandora's Temple. Kratos is stunned to see the lurching giant Cronos aimlessly wandering the desert. Kratos uses his Blades of Chaos to scale the back of the Titan and enters the Temple of Pandora. Verdes watching intently as Cronos continues his wandering. Suddenly Cronos collapses and Kratos emerges with Pandora's Box in his hand. Verdes is stunned that Kratos succeeded. Ares rips a pillar from Athens and hurtles it over the mountains and impales Kratos with it.
Kratos wakes up in the Underworld where he is greeted by a Gravedigger (Nick Nolte) who offers to lead Kraots out of the Underworld and back to Greece. Kratos asks the Gravedigger what he wants in return, and the Gravedigger says nothing. He just wants Kratos to continue his quest to stop Ares. The Gravedigger leads Kratos through the black void of the Underworld and into a tunnel he says he recently dug for him to escape through. Kratos asks how the Gravedigger could possibly know he would end up there, and the Gravedigger responds that Athena is not the only god keeping a watch on Kratos. The Gravedigger tells Kratos to follow the tunnel. It will lead him to the caverns underneath the Temple in Athens.
When Kratos reaches the caverns where he meets Aphrodite (Emily Ratajkowski), the Goddess of Beauty. Kratos is surprised to see her and asks her why she's there. She explains that Athena sent her to warn him of what lies ahead. Kratos tells her to go on, and Athena tells him that Medusa is guarding the entrance to the temple. Athens cannot be saved until she is slain. Kratos tells Aphrodite that he will do what he must. Aphrodite then vanishes into a beam of light. Kratos trudges ahead and finds Medusa (Priyanka Chopra) waiting for him. Kratos is frustrated that everyone seems to know where he's going before he does himself. Medusa tries to turn him to stone with her gaze, but Kratos refuses to look her in the eyes. He flings his blades at her, severing a snakes from her head. She laughs at him as they begin regenerating. With the blades ineffective, Kratos jumps onto Medusa's back, and with every ounce of rage and strength in his body, rips each and every snake from Medusa's head. He then crushes the snakes on the ground. Medusa begins withering away, becoming a pile of small snakes that Kratos stomps on.
Krato's travels through the temple until he finds and recovers Pandora's Box. Ares then confronts Kratos and tries to kill him, but Ares seemingly won't die. Ares creates an illusion for Kratos, recreating the village where Kratos' family was killed. Ares then creates doubles of Kratos which set fire to the house, killing Kratos' wife and daughter. Ares tells Kratos to give up or he will see this for eternity, but Kratos refuses. Ares then strips the Blades of Chaos from Kratos' arms and kills copies of Kratos' wife and daughter with them. Kratos manages to break free from the illusion, but is no weaponless after Ares stripped him of the blades. Kratos notices a large ornamental sword in the temple and quickly grabs it and impales Ares.
With Ares and his army defeated, Kratos goes to Athena and asks her to remove the nightmares of his past. Athena tells him that he is forgiven for his sins, but that the gods cannot take away his memories. Kratos, furious, storms out of the temple and heads to the nearest cliff. Kratos jumps off of the cliff, but just as he is about to hit the waves below, he is frozen. Kratos then finds himself back in Athena's temple. She opens up a portal and tells Kratos that he has served the gods well and there is a throne now currently without an occupant: the throne of the God of War. She tells him that he has been chosen as the replacement for the corrupted Ares. Kratos steps through the portal to Olympus and sits in the empty throne.
No comments:
Post a Comment