The things I feel hurt this film the most...

Lol, I couldn't agree more. I thought I had seen the film somewhere before but can't for the life of me work out what it reminds me of

One would think that Hollywood had learned its (costly) lesson with this type of movie in the Box Office disaster that was Pearl Harbor: to bookend a love story around a very real and tragic event, making more of the love story THAN the event didn't work then and it still doesn't work now.

It's said that the definition of insanity is doing the exact same thing over and over again expecting a different result. I believe Hollywood has indeed gone insane.

..Joe

Adding to that, would be more emphasis on the plot itself. The base plot for the film was Pompeii not Cassia & Milo's love story, which was the subplot. The debacle is inevitable when subplot inundates the plot. They should have commenced with Pompeii and ended with its obliteration. The characters involved would only be a part of their story not vice-versa. Another misery here were the leads. Let's hire an actor who, maybe a little, at least looks like a gladiator. Emily, though one of likable actresses, was too young and scrawny in her appearance. Even though I haven't read the script, I highly doubt there would a prescription for emaciated lead girl prescribed in it.

Only problem I had with it was how it ended. It just abruptly ended with them dying, and the movie was only an hour and 20 minutes long. It's like the writers wrote the beginning, and then they were like, wait, what happens after the volcano erupts?

I agree with most of things that are already listed here and I would add overall use of CGI to the list. I understand that with scenes involving volcano eruption or other mayhem normal use of CGI is on its place, but here there is almost no shot of real nature - every backround and all seems to be computer generated. I believe that even nowadays even when filming scenes of chaos and disaster good directors combine CGI with practical effects...

I am normally pretty forgiving with movies like this, but I can't think of anything to defend Pompeii. Terrible script and terrible acting, with very average CGI. 4/10.

I think the film improves if you can step away from Gladiator and view it as a separate entity, not trying to "copy" larger productions (Gladiator, Titanic, Romeo & Juliet).

First time through, I thought it was awful.

Second time through, I started to like it a tiny bit.

Third time through, with the commentary, I appreciated how much hard work had gone into it.

Fourth time through ... I really enjoyed it.

Granted, this shouldn't HAVE to happen and that is the mark of a film with issues -- but it improved on me with time.

I do think it's missing something, though I'm not sure what that is.

Personally, I thought the dialogue was weak and the gore should have been increased.

Then again, this movie was deliberately trying to be a simple, old-fashioned adventure picture.