Review by Jym Cherry
Rating:
Never mind that Clash of the Titans play fast and loose with the mythological story of Perseus. Never mind that Medusa wasn’t a Titan. Never mind that the Kraken is from Scandinavian mythology, and that casting Lawrence Olivier as Zeus in the 1981 version was sort of typecasting.

The new Clash of the Titans is a darker, grittier more realistic Bronze age world than the 1981 version, but the story hasn`t changed all that much. The citizens of Argos have become disenchanted with the rule of the Gods. The Gods have caused too much chaos and ruin to their lives so they’ve decided to take their destinies into their own hands, and destroy the temples and statues of the Gods. In doing so, Perseus’(Sam Worthington) family is killed by a falling statue of Zeus. When Zeus (Liam Neeson) learns of the desecration urged on by Hades (Ralph Fiennes), he decides to destroy the city in four days or they can offer the sacrifice of the King of Argos’ daughter Andromeda (Alexa Davalos). In a visit to the throne room of Argos, Hades lets it slip that Perseus is a son of Zeus, a demi-god. Being told of his near divinity, Perseus and a group of soldiers go off on their quest to save the city.

The special effects are great! The monsters look real and the characters realistically interact with them. In 3D the water roiling off the undulating tentacles of the Kraken must look really cool! The problem is they shortchanged the story in favor of the special effects. The story only follows the barest of outlines of the myth. Same with the 1981 version, although it’s a little more faithful to the myth. The most glaring lapse is there really isn’t any reason for Perseus to save Argos. In the myth his reason to save the city is for the love of Andromeda. In this version he’s a stranger to Argos and doesn’t fall in love with Andromeda. She’s barely a consideration until she’s needed to be sacrificed to the Kraken. The only reason he seems to take up the quest is because he’s the nearest handy demi-god that can help out. Worthington’s Perseus doesn’t seem very heroic, there doesn’t seem to be any emotional investment in Perseus in either the quest or the surrounding characters. Most of the time he has a stoically sullen, put upon attitude, and this keeps the audience at arms length from the character. He doesn`t seem to embrace the heroic at all. Yes, he kills the monsters, but the tasks he must accomplish like tricking the Stygian witches and figuring out how to survive the encounter with Medusa, he seems to accomplish almost by accident. It seems that Perseus isn’t meant to be heroic. he repeatedly says he wants “to do this (the quest) as man, not a God,” and he keeps refusing the gifts of the Gods. The message in the myth is for mortals to find the divine, to find the god, the hero within themselves, Perseus’ refusal of the gifts of the Gods, is the refusal to find the hero within himself.

The 1981 version, although a bit campy in it’s delivery tells the hero’s story better. The 2010 version delivers better on the special effects. If such a thing were possible as to merge the strengths of both, you would have a better movie.

DVD/Bonus Features: When Clash of The Titans becomes available on DVD, I’ll edit the review to reflect what’s included in that package.

Review by Geffrey L. Gamolo
Rating:
Ok, if you compare this with the 80′s movie, the plot and storyline of the original shoots this one out of the water. But as a movie by itself, it’s ok.

The thing I didn’t like is how they change the myth of the greek gods to serve this film. Sure the monsters looks cooler in todays technology, but other than that, it’s a “blah”. The Olympians are mostly background fodder with only one other god that has a talking scene. What’s up with that?

The original is a lot better storywise, for the sole reason that Perseus has a connection with Andromeda in the first place and not just a meleh meeting. The gods are more involved on the story as well. They were always watching and assiting the hero in his quest. This “new” movie made it sounds like the “war” makes everyone should be concern, but I don’t feel that at all.

And what’s up with making Hades always the bad guy? The original movie, Thetis, a sea goddess was the “bad” guy but not because she was evil, she’s just protecting her own.

This one could’ve done better but it felt like the makers are just hoping on the special effects to make people see the movie, nothing else! That only works once, on the first viewing, nothing more.

Review by David Bonesteel
Rating:
Demi-god Perseus (Sam Worthington), the son of Zeus (Liam Neeson) and a human mother, undertakes a quest to save the city of Argos from the wrath of the Kraken, an enormous sea monster that the gods plan to release as punishment for defiance.

Director Louis Leterrier keeps the pace snappy and handles CGI creatures well, as he demonstrated with “The Incredible Hulk.” Some reviewers want more story, but it seems to me that the figures of Greek myth are generally at the mercy of fate and destiny, so I didn’t miss the lack of motivations rooted deeply in character. I also didn’t mind the scrambling of mythology, although I wouldn’t recommend this movie as a source for college students trying to crank out a term paper on Greek myths at the last minute. I didn’t even mind Perseus’s buzzcut in a world where everyone else (even some of the women) have beards and long hair. At least it’s easy to pick him out of a crowd. The giant scorpions, the Medusa, the harpies, and the Kraken all looked great and the action was exciting enough to keep me happily shoveling popcorn into my mouth.

BTW, I elected to see the film in 2D since I had read some bad reviews of the murky look of the film after the last minute decision to switch it to 3D. “Avatar” demonstrated that 3D technology has finally arrived and is worth the extra bucks when done right. However, too many Hollywood productions trying to jump onto the bandwagon with substandard product may make moviegoers think twice about paying higher ticket prices.