Visual artist Tarsem Singh is renowned for delivering spectacle and stunning visuals with each new piece of art he creates, and from his past two films to even to his commercials, this has been the case.Immortals is no different, as Tarsem demonstrates his eye for a rich and breathtaking visual style and grandeur. If only he had a script or characters deserving of his strengths.

Immortals tells the story of Theseus (Henry Caville, Man of Steel), a common peasant who must meet his fate head on and attempt to vanquish the evil King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler), who seeks to capture the magical Epirus Bow and use its power to conquer both the Gods and Men. Due to ancient laws, the Gods cannot interfere directly with the wars of man, so high on Mount Olympus, Zeus (Luke Evans, Clash of the Titans), with Athena (Isabel Lucas, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), Ares (Daniel Sharman), Apollo (Corey Sevier), and Poseidon (Kellan Lutz, Twilight) to name a few, put their faith in the young Theseus to conquer Hyperion and his prevent his bloodthirsty plan to unleash the imprisoned Titans from Mount Tartaros.

So there’s the general premise, essentially a mashup of films such as Clash of the Titans, Lord of the Rings, and 300. When Hyperion attacks and destroys Theseus’ village villagers, including killing and raping his mother, Theseus, at the encouragement of the old incarnate of Zeus (John Hurt, Harry Potter), vows to stop Hyperion’s evil quest for power over Heaven and Earth. Theseus joins forces with Stavros (Stephen Dorff, Somewhere), a coarse and unpredictable thief, and the oracle priestess Phaedra (Freida Pinto, Slumdog Millionaire) to stop Hyperion and his massive army.

What follows is essentially a generic adventure story filled with cardboard characters and no real tangible sense of dread or fear from the brutish villains. The stylistic and graphic violence coupled with terrific visuals can’t salvage a storyline that increasingly crumbles around its lifeless characters — with the exception of a great Stephen Dorff — who represent caricatures that its hard to either care about or fully invest ourselves in.

Tarsem’s previous film, The Fall, served as a love letter to imagination and storytelling accompanied with his usual magnificent visuals. The key with that film was that the story and its characters were able to contribute and further the film as a whole, this is not the case with Immortals. Despite tackling the often troubling medium of 3D film relatively well with a rich and visionary world, the surrounding characters and plot are extremely two-dimensional.

Immortals serves as a perfect example of the importance of character, story, and substance in a film. Tarsem has created a rich world where the visuals command both respect and admiration, but the characters and the plot contribute nothing to a film that feels decidedly one-sided and lacking of important substantive qualities, as the visuals should fulfill the film, not make it.

Grade: C-

Rated: R (For sequences of strong bloody violence, and a scene of sexuality.)

Immortals opens nationwide November 11, 2011.