Clash of the Titans (2010)

Rating: ***/*****, or 6/10

Unnecessary and unwanted remake of the 1981 Ray Harryhausen classic. At least it acknowledges the charm of the original was based around the wonderful stop motion animation, which it predictably replaces with an abundance of digital effects, including several CGI monsters copied directly from its predecessor (though not necessarily present in the original Greek myth), including giant scorpions and a very snake like Medusa. The plot remains largely the same, though in this more modern look on mythology the gods are treated with much less respect, portrayed as interfering omnipotent beings leeching off of humanity's worship over them, which is rapidly diminishing, making Zeus (who else but Liam Neeson) angry enough to release the monstrous Kraken on mankind, though he still deems humanity worthy enough to allow his son Perseus (Sam Worthington displaying his usual poor acting skills) to successfully fight the terror. Meanwhile, Zeus himself is betrayed by his brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes playing yet another effectively scary bad guy), God of Death – who by now is undoubtedly used to play the villain in Hollywood's contemporary view on mythology – so Perseus also needs to save his daddy despite not carrying much love for him. Though fairly entertaining, this movie simply features too much digital creature fights to make any of them memorable, except maybe for the final Kraken battle. The film is infamous for its horribly poor post-conversion 3-D effects, adding little depth at all but instead messing up many a shot. Though the movie covers most of the original film and actual myth, the amount of money it made warranted a sequel, Wrath of the Titans (2012), which ixnayed the story altogether and focused almost exclusively on people fighting digital monsters, to predictably disappointing results. Despite the failure, a third Clash is in the works. It remains unknown what Ray Harryhausen thinks of all this, but obviously Hollywood can't care less about the opinions of former masters of movie making magic.

Starring: Sam Worthington, Gemma Arterton, Liam Neeson

Directed by Louis Leterrier

USA: Warner Bros, 2010