"Clash Of The Titans" (2010) - A Movie Review by Katie Carter
April 4, 2010
Clash of the Titans”. It’s a bad movie. Trust me.
Okay, maybe beginning a review that way is unfair. But this new version of “Clash of the Titans” directed by Louis Leterrier is a bonafide B-movie that is only slightly enjoyable even as a guilty pleasure and largely uninteresting.
The story is set in the ancient Grecian city Argos. The mortals there have shunned the gods of Mount Olympus, so the very shiny Zeus (Liam Neeson) and his brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes) decide to teach them a lesson. In a set amount of time, they will release the fearsome Kraken on the city, at which point the townspeople can either sacrifice their princess (Alexa Davalos) and save themselves, or face utter destruction. But then there’s Perseus (Sam Worthington), the demigod son of Zeus who was raised by fishermen. It is his destiny to save Argos, so he goes on a journey to find out how to destroy the Kraken.
I’ve never been a huge fan of the original 1981 “Clash of the Titans”, but even I can recognize that that film is superior to this one, at least a little bit. The list of flaws in this movie is so long, it would be easy to forget a few. The story, although it follows the original closely, is pretty weak, but that’s not nearly as bad as the cheesy dialogue. Lines like “Release the Kraken!” have already become infamous, and parts that likely were not intended to be comical are.
Then there’s the acting. Worthington is decent, but still hasn’t reached his full potential as an actor. The other actors were barely in the film long enough to really judge their performances, but Neeson and Fiennes are the standouts during their brief time on screen. The rest of the supporting cast, namely Perseus’s motley crew, are bland at best.
Then there’s the action, which the film is overflowing with, and it’s utterly ridiculous. Check out the giant scorpion scene and you’ll see what I mean. These parts are milding entertaing but ultimately bogged down by one too many slow-motion leaps and bounds. The special effects are impressive and the main reason why these scenes are fun to watch, although I can’t say they are as immpressive as Ray Harryhausen’s in the original.
And then there are some other plot points that don’t make any sense; like, did buzz cuts exisit in Ancient Greece? How do the people of Argos know Perseus is a demigod; furthermore, why doesn’t Perseus seem at all shocked by this news? And since when could Zeus bring people back to life? This questions and many more go unanswered in this disaster of epic proportions.
1 1/2 out of 5 stars.
Okay, maybe beginning a review that way is unfair. But this new version of “Clash of the Titans” directed by Louis Leterrier is a bonafide B-movie that is only slightly enjoyable even as a guilty pleasure and largely uninteresting.
The story is set in the ancient Grecian city Argos. The mortals there have shunned the gods of Mount Olympus, so the very shiny Zeus (Liam Neeson) and his brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes) decide to teach them a lesson. In a set amount of time, they will release the fearsome Kraken on the city, at which point the townspeople can either sacrifice their princess (Alexa Davalos) and save themselves, or face utter destruction. But then there’s Perseus (Sam Worthington), the demigod son of Zeus who was raised by fishermen. It is his destiny to save Argos, so he goes on a journey to find out how to destroy the Kraken.
I’ve never been a huge fan of the original 1981 “Clash of the Titans”, but even I can recognize that that film is superior to this one, at least a little bit. The list of flaws in this movie is so long, it would be easy to forget a few. The story, although it follows the original closely, is pretty weak, but that’s not nearly as bad as the cheesy dialogue. Lines like “Release the Kraken!” have already become infamous, and parts that likely were not intended to be comical are.
Then there’s the acting. Worthington is decent, but still hasn’t reached his full potential as an actor. The other actors were barely in the film long enough to really judge their performances, but Neeson and Fiennes are the standouts during their brief time on screen. The rest of the supporting cast, namely Perseus’s motley crew, are bland at best.
Then there’s the action, which the film is overflowing with, and it’s utterly ridiculous. Check out the giant scorpion scene and you’ll see what I mean. These parts are milding entertaing but ultimately bogged down by one too many slow-motion leaps and bounds. The special effects are impressive and the main reason why these scenes are fun to watch, although I can’t say they are as immpressive as Ray Harryhausen’s in the original.
And then there are some other plot points that don’t make any sense; like, did buzz cuts exisit in Ancient Greece? How do the people of Argos know Perseus is a demigod; furthermore, why doesn’t Perseus seem at all shocked by this news? And since when could Zeus bring people back to life? This questions and many more go unanswered in this disaster of epic proportions.
1 1/2 out of 5 stars.
Posted by Film Addicts. Posted In : Movie Review
Katie Carter is a 19-year-old movie fanatic. Born in Florida, she currently lives in St. Louis, Missouri, where she attends St. Louis Community College at Meramec as a film major and has two jobs: cashiering at Stein Mart and writing movie reviews and articles for the St. Louis edition the website www.examiner.com. Katie wasn't big into movies until her freshman year of high school, when for some unexplainable reason one night she watched the Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall classic, "Key Largo" on Turner Classic Movies. She fell in love with it, and began seeking out other movies, starting with the classics, and working her way up to more modern films. Her favoriet movie is 1977's "Star Wars", but she also loves everything from musicals to Disney movies and classic horror to pre-code dramas.
Katie's other hobbies include reading, writing, drawing, painting, playing piano, knitting, and the world's biggest time-waster, The Sims 2!
