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
