DVD Reviews

Clash of the Titans - Blu-ray Review

By Jeff Swindoll Mar 5, 2010, 14:57 GMT

Before history and beyond imagination! The machinations of gods above and the fates of man and monsters here below play out in a Clash of the Titans. Decades prior to the sensational 2010 version of the tale, Harry Hamlin took up sword and shield to play valorous Perseus, mortal son of Zeus (Laurence Olivier) who sets out to fulfill his destiny by rescuing beloved Andromeda from the wrath of goddess ...more

The remake wagon rolls on, but it does occasionally get the original film onto Blu-ray. Such is the case with the Clash of the Titans - a fondly remembered Greek god epic. The new version looks grittier than this kid-friendly fare, but the Blu-ray looks pretty gritty and maybe the movie hasn’t aged well.

Perseus (Harry Hamlin) is the son of the god Zeus (Laurence Olivier). The “immaculate conception” circumstances and a prophecy around Perseus’ birth caused Zeus to instruct Poseidon (Jack Gwillim) to unleash the monstrous Kraken to destroy the city of Argos. Those destructive events are threatening to repeat themselves.

Calibos (Neil McCarthy) is also the son of Thetis (Maggie Smith), a goddess, and is going to marry Princess Andromedea (Judi Bowker), the daughter of Queen Cassiopeia (Sian Phillips) of Joppa. Calibos is cruel and is transformed by Zeus into a satyr-like monster that is now an outcast, thus ruining his and his mother’s plans to marry Andromedea so she extracts vengeance.

If a riddle is not answered, Andromedea will be burnt at the stake. To make things worse, Perseus has fallen in love with her and Thetis transports him to another land, where he meets philosopher Ammon (Burgess Meredith), to make sure that Andromedea dies and Perseus and Zeus suffer.

Perseus, with some help from dear old dad and the flying horse Pegasus, triumphs but Thetis is not so easily defeated and takes vengeance on Joppa since she cannot harm Zeus’ favorite. Thetis demands Andromedea as a sacrifice to the Kraken in three days or Joppa will befall the fate of Argos.

Perseus will have three days to find a way to defeat the Kraken and it will ultimately involve the head of Medusa, whose gaze turns living creatures to stone.

Clash of the Titans was the swan song of special effects master Ray Harryhausen before retiring from moviemaking. I think every little boy either gravitates towards Greek gods or dinosaurs at one point, if not both. Harryhausen is a master of his craft and although his creations may seem quaint to us these days there is soul put into their creation from the hands of the master.

They’re certainly the stars of Clash of the Titans. Not that the people are not well represented with Olivier as Zeus and Ursula Andress as Aphrodite. The warning of the gods comes on the back, “This film has been remastered using state of the art digital technology while maintaining the visual appearance of the original theatrical release.”

In other words, some of the film looks great (colors pop sometimes) and others look washed out and grainy. I still think that it’s the best that the film has ever looked on home video, but those expecting Zeus to work miracles with the picture may be turned to stone with disappointment.

I think the film is a fun time, but the kids might get more fun out of the characters (Bubo, Pegasus) created for them.

Clash of the Titans is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (1.85:1). Special features are presented in standard definition and include a 12 minute “Conversation with Harryhausen” and the “Myths and More Gallery” has of him discussing the creation of each creature in the film in short (1-2 minute each) clips.

You also get a preview of the remake when the disc starts (5 minutes, high def) and a 5-page booklet on the remake that also has $7.50 of movie cash to see it in theaters. The disc is also housed in Warner’s Digibook packaging so you get 20 pages of photos and character and creature bios.

Clash of the Titans will seem quaint and childish to modern eyes, but it was the bomb when it first came out (yours truly had a Bubo action figure and the Kraken, sadly lost). The film is a mixed bag in high definition, but still a fun time for fans. The remake does look pretty cool though.