Pompeii is a disaster movie, so it’s not as though anyone should expect much by way of logic or narrative, but you do expect some spectacles.

Anderson’s film is engrossing with the tension building steadily, from the opening sequence’s Roman massacre of a Celtic rebellion in Londinium, Brittany through the emotional drama of the star-crossed, wracked by the longing for freedom and love, before the fury of the volcanic Vesuvius explodes upon all, free citizenry, gladiators and slaves.