Pompeii is certainly not a good, or particularly skillful, or even a wholly competent movie. But for a good 30 minutes, it offers a bugnuts, plotless action ride, as a CG mountain handsomely explodes, and Romans and gladiators try to slice each other to death with swords. Considering that we already know how badly it's going to end, Pompeii tries a lot harder than it needs to. Watching it fail is probably more fun than it would have been to watch it succeed. by Ned Lannamann