Studio Name: Warner Bros. (Legendary Pictures)
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Disc/Transfer Information: 1080p High Definition 16X9 2.4:1 (2.40:1); Region 1 (U.S.)
Tested Audio Track: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Director: Louis Leterrier
Starring Cast: Sam Worthington, Gemma Arterton, Mads Mikkelsen, Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson
RELEASE THE CRAKEN!
PLOT ANALYSIS:
For a film which came and went from the theaters faster than clothes drop off a stripper in a VIP room, Louis Leterrier’s
Clash of the Titans remake boasted a pretty serious cast – attempting to suspend disbelief and buy Liam Neeson as the legendary god Zeus is a completely different story. What we have here was a solid effort from the man who brought us the re-energized
Incredible Hulk, making up for the CGI-coated Ang Lee version, and here Leterrier does for the original Harry Hamlin freeze-frame-like
Clash what Wolfgang Petersen did for
Poseidon Adventure. I recall really wanting to see this in theaters – the trailers suggested an over-the-top albeit CGI-infested retelling of the almost forgotten
Clash of the Titans, which to me was always an underrated fantasy picture – the idea of the legendary mythological gods battling a mere mortal in an epic journey was always spellbinding to me, and I can recall in my youth when catching the original on broadcast television how it never really received the respect it was due. The problem with that picture, as everyone can recall, is that even back
then, the effects and stop-action “stunts” involving the creature battle sequences seemed hokey and just ridiculously silly – even beyond perhaps any
Godzilla production we had ever seen. Watching the clips of the original film on a trailer for the Blu-ray before the remake begins on its BD, the effect is even more jarring and laughable – some fans argue that was the charm of
Clash of the Titans, and I can certainly see that as I am one of those
Star Trek fans who feel the original episodes play better without the added effects work recently slathered on by Paramount, but let’s just say for
Clash of the Titans, this remake certainly makes things more entertaining.
I have never been much of an advocate of remakes; in my humble opinion, they never nearly hit the mark set by their original brethren, and the results are often horrific in execution – over the last decade, we have seen an absolute explosion in the trend of Hollywood remakes, some saying this being a result of the lack of creativity for new motion picture concepts. For what it’s worth, I feel projects such as
John Carpenter’s Halloween should never have been remade, nor should
A Nightmare on Elm Street and
Friday the 13th; there’s a gaggle of titles we could discuss ad nauseum here which have come and gone through the remake chamber, but suffice to say, some of the better ones include Zack Snyder’s
Dawn of the Dead, Alexander Aja’s The Hills Have Eyes, Man On Fire, The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 and perhaps Martin Scorsese’s retelling of
Cape Fear. There’s also
House on Haunted Hill, The Haunting and some others which escape me right now. Amongst the absolute worst are
The Amityville Horror (which disgraced the Lutz and DeFeo family names forever), the Paris Hilton joke that was
House of Wax (what a slap in the face to Vincent Price and his timeless, awesome performance in the original) and
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre including its ridiculously cheesy, commercially-driven and unnecessary prequel “reboots.” There’s a rumor floating around that they’re pondering an
Exorcist remake – with this being one of my favorite films of all time, I will seriously have to consider moving beyond this hobby and finding another if this actually goes to production…
Somewhere in the middle were decent attempts including
Friday the 13th (although no one will come close to Paramount’s original franchise and the magic those films carried for Jason fans) and maybe the recent
Crazies, which attempted to re-tell the George Romero classic but ended up for the most part flat and lifeless. There was also the recent
Wolfman remake, which wasn’t too bad, but also ended up feeling a bit forgettable even with Anthony Hopkins on the roster. But then there was Louis Leterrier and his attempt to update and modernize the campy but cool
Clash of the Titans – for the most part, he indeed succeeded, but the film still feels a bit “unfinished” and unpolished despite its wildly eye-opening CGI setpieces.
Working off the story from the original but having some minor tweaks here and there applied by the remake’s filmmaking and writing crews, this new version of
Clash has Sam Worthington in Harry Hamlin’s role as Perseus – instead of Hamlin’s long locks, we have Worthington’s shaved melon, sporting a look similar to Christian Bale’s in the last
Terminator. A very interesting pre-film introduction sequence has a voiceover by the delightfully pretty and upcoming Gemma Arterton (who played “Fields” in
Quantum of Solace and who stars in the new
Prince of Persia as well) who, as the screen fills with a blanket of stars and constellations, tells of the legend of the ancient gods and how man revolted against them. This sequence was similar to the
Mummy films with regard to the pre-narration by a female voice, which always seems to be effective – it even worked with Jamie Lee Curtis’ voiceover in the opening of
John Carpenter’s Escape From New York. Arterton goes on to portray a kind of guiding protector in the film to Worthington’s Perseus, guiding him along his upcoming journey to battle the gods that killed his stepfather.
That brings me to the way in which the plot is set up – we learn from Arterton’s narration that into this ancient world of man and gods a child was born…a child that would change the history of mankind forever. As we see a woman in a small coffin floating in the sea, clutching a newborn baby in her arms, the film begins to explore the origins of Perseus and how he came to be “adopted” by a fisherman and his wife. By the time Perseus is a young man, soldiers on the hilltop of a village are witnessed by Perseus and his family breaking off and destroying a statue of the god Zeus, throwing it into the ocean. It seems this was the point in history when mankind stopped worshipping the gods, feeling their worship of them was no longer warranted. The gods, of course, feeding off the worship of mortals, feel differently. This brings about the appearance of the god Hades (Ralph Fiennes in a CGI-dominated role), brother of Zeus, who bursts from the sea and destroys Perseus’ fishing boat along with his adoptive parents. Thus the revenge fantasy begins.
We are treated to some wildly creative Mount Olympus CGI shots, where we bear witness to the roundtable of gods including Poseidon and other recognizable notables discussing the future of man and their lack of respect for the godly beings. At the head of this meeting is of course Zeus, played by a CGI-shared Liam Neeson. I don’t quite know how I feel about Neeson playing the legendary supergod, as all too often, his traditional accent and voice slip through the Zeus performance, and immediately remind you of
Batman Begins or even
Taken. Neeson, while a great actor, has a voice you cannot mistake anywhere, and at times, you just don’t buy him as Zeus in his new, updated silvery/white costume reminiscent of Superman’s parents’ getups on Krypton. Still, the choice for this computer-enhanced role could have been much worse. Fiennes as Hades is particularly menacing, as he has fun sharing the CGI efforts as the dark-spirited god from the underworld bent on terrorizing man for their refusal of worship. In a bit of a confusing, rushed aspect of the film, Worthington’s Perseus, now a good 12 years older and still mourning the death of his adoptive parents at sea, is wrangled up by some ancient soldiers to be brought before the king and queen of this village; we really don’t understand or know how he got on the streets of this village to be taken by the soldiers, and the only thing we can deduce is that he has spent many years without a home and wandering the alleyways of this ancient world. The setpieces and costuming in these village sequences are reminiscent of
Gladiator, most notably in the soldiers’ outfits and armory. Once in front of the king’s busy court, Perseus listens to the announcements of the king and queen with regard to this world’s refusal to worship Zeus and the gods any longer. When the queen begins singling out their daughter, Andromeda, comparing her beauty to a god, a sweeping black sand swirls into the court, sucking in the king’s soldiers and wreaking havoc amongst everyone present – the sand becomes the form of Hades, and thus the gods’ plans are laid out for those refusing to worship them: In a matter of days, Hades will unleash the Kraken creature (a bit different from its take in the second
Pirates of the Caribbean film) to destroy this entire village for their refusal to recognize the gods now unless they sacrifice Andromeda. Turning to Perseus before he transforms into the sand once again, Hades makes a comment regarding him being the son of Zeus.
CONTINUED BELOW...
