Mixing up the disaster movie genre with some classic swords and sandals action and adventure shouldn't be something that is difficult to get wrong, but Paul W.S. Anderson doesn't exactly have a lot of flair for genre movies outside the guilty pleasure that is Even Horizon. Giving him a little benefit of the doubt for what seemed to be an easy opportunity for some schlock and spectacle didn't bear much fruit unfortunately, in a movie chock full of passable effects sequences, half baked clichés and acting that ranges for complete ham to complete rubbish. The bits that work are entertaining enough and when things are moving at a fair pace it's easy enough to watch, but there is a whole lot of dead weight dragging it down well before the suffocating ash buries the principle cast.
