Many centuries from now, Earth is not as we remember it and ancient gods, genetically modified humans, and a regular folks all mingle. A god wanting to make sure his legacy continues picks a woman and regular man to achieve this through.
Trigger warning: Rape
Based on the Enki Bilal comic books “La Foire aux immortels” and “La Femme piège”, adapted to script by Serge Lehman and directed by Bilal himself, this film was stunning pieces of special effects back in 2004. It was advertised very little in some areas, but the screening attended at a festival was packed and people were eating it up. It was an original story, one from beloved comic books in the French world, one that many were eagerly awaiting and from a story standpoint, it does decently well of bringing the universe to the screen, giving the viewer something interesting to watch (mostly). Nowadays, the story has some glaring issues, like why did the woman need to be raped to be impregnated since the god Horus was able to get in the body of any man he wanted. He could easily have picked one she was into (which he did) and let them get to this point on their own, but I guess he was in rush (impending death and all). A little more planning on his part could have avoided this aspect of the story that hasn’t aged well. Thankfully, the man whose body he is using for this (also a victim, let’s be honest) seems to not agree with this and a character that is somewhat on point for current times. The writing here has some issues and so does direction, but there is something here.
So why the Bad Movie Monday pick? Well, the special effects (and some of the story issues) along with some of the acting, make this one of those films that if you didn’t see it back in the day, you’ll likely not enjoy it all that much, unless you love a bad movie. The effects here are straight up atrocious for most of the movie with a few elements here and there that work still to this day. Makeup design and practical bits? Fab. The CGI? Oh hell no. The effects in this movie can be used a cautionary tale to show that looks absolutely amazing in a brand-new movie to its current audience will likely age terrible. This movie is just a bit over 20 years old and the graphics look like old school, ancient computer video games, like late 1990s and early 2000s games, something that doesn’t exactly scream modern-looking to 2025 eyes. The design for Horus is one example of “they tried but” and one that is glaringly in our faces from early on. Yes, there is a charm in that he almost looks like a hieroglyphic representation of himself, but when he moves and talks and is seen in full frontal, it’s just not it. The effects on Jill, the lead character, are better solely because she is a human with makeup effects and what looks to be minimal, if any, computer generated effects. Her look is still fantastic, the blue hues of her body, her tears, and her coloring are great. Then we go back to supporting characters that are possibly mocap beings or maybe just really badly drawn people. If memory serves, these were not exactly comic book accurate back then and now they just look terrible.
The cast here is doing what they can. Linda Hardy plays Jill, our lead, a mysterious blue woman chosen by Horus to have his child. She plays the part with an innocence that works rather well and fits the character just right. She’s curious, she doesn’t know much, but she knows what she wants. While she’s a victim here, she’s not a damsel in distress she can manage. Playing her love interest, the prison escapee Nikopol is Thomas Kretschmann who does decent work. Joining them in the realm of human performances is Charlotte Rampling as Elma Turner, a researcher fascinated by Jill whose part is semi-interesting and whose performance matches the part. Most of the rest of the cast is mostly giving voice performances (with a few possibly having done mocap, information unclear at the moment) and they do their best here but their cgi characters betray them.
Immortal is one of those comic book adaptations that took a fully developed universe, one not seen all that often, did its best to try and make it an immortal cinematic experience, but its horribly badly aged computer-generated effects and images are just not on point anymore. They seemed excellent in 2004 on the big screen, but rewatching this year puts the film right into Bad Movie Monday Land where we love it, but its issues could keep many from enjoying it even a little bit.