Pompeii

In the doomed city of the ancient Roman Empire, a Celtic gladiator (Kit Harington) falls for a freeborn woman (Emily Browning) who has also caught the eye of a powerful senator (Kiefer Sutherland). Lee and Janet Scott Batchler's script flaunts its ignorance of history (“OK,” says one slave. Elsewhere, Browning snaps, “I'm a citizen of Pompeii!” No, honey, you're a citizen of Rome who lives in Pompeii). The model here isn't Roman history, it's James Cameron's Titanic—but Harington isn't Leonardo DiCaprio and Browning isn't Kate Winslet (at least Sutherland isn't Billy Zane). Director Paul W.S. Anderson strains credulity by having Harington defeat foe after foe, each of whom outweighs him by a good 30 pounds. The final destruction is enjoyably cheesy—and that's really all we came to see anyway.