Clash of the Titans: Review

Clash of the Titans is the latest Warner Bros. film from director Louis Leterrier, whose movies have gotten progressively worse since his debut with the excellent Jet Li film: Danny the Dog (Unleashed). Clash of the Titans is no different from this trend. Screenwriters Travis Beacham, Phil Hay, & Matt Manfredi provided a script that’s dialogue is almost as campy and laughable as Tommy Wiseau’s The Room.   The story of this 2010 remake follows Perseus (Sam Worthington), a demi-god, and his goal to avenge the death of the family who adopted him as a child through declaring war on Hades (Ralph Fiennes), god of the Underworld.  Meanwhile, his quest of vengeance will also help the Argonauts defeat the horrendous Kraken who is planning on destroying the city of Argos.   The quest takes Perseus to the mountain of the three-blind witches, the depths of the Underworld, the lair of Medusa (Natalia Vodianova ), and the heart of Argos, while facing off against giant scorpions, hideously disfigured men, and other terrible creatures.  He also is helped along the way by Zeus (Liam Neeson) and the ever faithful Pegasus.

I went into this film with high hopes; I was very excited for a remake of the cult classic from 1981, yet sceptical about how the 3D would turn out.  This film was originally shot in 2D and then sent back to the editing room and edited in 3D; which proves to be the first of many downfalls with this film.  The 3D in this film is laughable; if you want to call it 3D. I spent most of the movie looking over my 3D glasses because they got in the way and made the film less enjoyable.  I already mentioned how deplorable the script was; the dialogue was campy and boring (much like the rest of the film) and the character that provides the most depth throughout the entire film is killed off within the first 8 minutes.  I’m surprised that the girl who played Medusa was even credited for the role as her character was completely CGI’ed and her entire dialogue consisted of yelling and laughing fiendishly.  Which brings up the rest of the acting; Liam Neeson – what happened? You are a great actor – but this time – you failed.  I’ve never liked Sam Worthington, so I had no problem once again hating another performance from this subpar actor who manages to get his roles based on sex appeal.  All lines are delivered hollowly and rehearsed; as was each and every movement. There is a scene where Perseus is being trained in the art of swordplay and after 30 seconds of learning he can best the man who is teaching him; yet his movements and actions look so rigid and uncomfortable that it is one of the most unbelievable moments in the film. The acting continues to suck throughout the film and the wide range of the cast – an actor’s job is to engage you in the story; to engage you in their character; and make you see the importance and story behind each and every movement they do – yet as characters are killed off throughout this adventure one feels almost nothing for the loss of their character, I in fact felt happy for many of the deaths because it meant: a) the film was getting closer to being done and b) I wouldn’t have to put up with as many rigid and awkward actors in front of me.

The action starts to save the film; but falls short as well when every fight becomes a rehash of the one before it. It reminded me of every episode of The Power Rangers when they fought the same old Putties, in the same way, every single day. The only difference is that instead of a 45 second fight we had to sit through nearly 2 hours of these rehashed fights that got boring very quickly.  And then there was The Kraken.  The Kraken is a giant beast from the Underworld that is sent to destroy the city of Argos; but even he loses originality as he looked exactly like the creature from the great South-Korean monster flick Gwoemul.

And the 3D? I saved the worst for last. IF you decide to see this atrocity don’t spend the extra 3.50 – 5$, or whatever extra it costs, to see this film in 3D. It is one million percent a gimmick; and a bad one at that.  This film, as bad as it was, may have actually been better in 2D. I will never know – because I won’t give it a second chance.

Clash of the Titans? It is pretentiously boring; a mixture of old school Power Rangers -  and we know how bad that was – and the walking scenes from Lord of the Rings. While being labelled as the start of the summer blockbuster season I can only predict it as a flop and I dare say that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was better than this craptastic adventure.

Skip. Skip. Skip.

1.5 out of 5 Stars