DVD Reviews

Clash of the Titans – Blu-ray Review

By Patrick Luce Jul 28, 2010, 14:58 GMT

In Clash of the Titans, the ultimate struggle for power pits men against kings and kings against gods. But the war between the gods themselves could destroy the world. Born of a god but raised as a man, Perseus (Sam Worthington) is helpless to save his family from Hades (Ralph Fiennes), vengeful god of the underworld. With nothing to lose, Perseus volunteers to lead a dangerous mission to defeat Hades ...more

The remake of Clash of the Titans arrives looking slick and sharp on the 1080p format, but lacks some of the heart of the 1981 original – which is probably due to the stop-motion effects of the legendary Ray Harryhausen being updated to heavy use of CGI.

Visually, Clash of the Titans is what you expect out of this “blockbuster” style of movie, but the film seems too rushed, the plot is too predictable, and the characters are easily forgettable.

Instead of taking the time to develop the characters or expand on their struggle with the gods, the film starts to feel like an amusement ride moving quickly from one thrill to another. I even found myself considering how much this update was like the recent release of Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and wondering which one I liked better.

For this update, director Louis Leterrier and screenplay writers Travis Beacham, Phil Hay, and Matt Manfredi packed in as much mythological/fantasy action sequences as possible – including fighting giant scorpions, a long action sequence with Medusa (Natalia Vodianova), and an appearance by that pesky Kraken (who looks like the Cloverfield monster’s love child) at the end.

They also made sure to give the film plenty of heroes to cheer on – even if they were disposable and easily forgettable.

The film features Sam Worthington as the hero/demi-god Perseus, Gemma Arterton as Lo a woman cursed by the gods to never grow old, Mads Mikkelsen as the cynical Draco, and Jason Flemyng as the villain Calibos.

We get godly appearances from Liam Neeson as Zeus, Ralph Fiennes as Hades, Luke Evans as Apollo, Izabella Miko as Athena, Alexander Siddig as Hermes, Tamer Hassan as Ares, and Danny Huston as Poseidon.

Although the film is littered with gods, most of the great cast appearances are wasted since the only real godly screen time is used by Neeson and Fiennes. The rest of the god cast just stand around looking godly.

The film kicks off with baby Perseus being scooped up out of the water by Spyros (Pete Postlethwaite) who raises him as his own son and teaches him to be a fisherman. He also teaches him to respect the gods, but to question why man needs them and if it isn’t the gods who need man more. It seems man has decided it is tired of the gods interfering in their lives and has decided to start tearing down their statues and temples.

The gods are upset about this since they need man’s love as a way to continue to be strong and have immortality. Zeus is really upset about man’s defiance since he created man and feels they should love him without question. This leads to Hades convincing Zeus to let him teach man a lesson by unleashing the Kraken on man.

Meanwhile, Perseus suffers the loss of his family when they are drowned following a run-in with Hades. The young hero finds his way to Argos just as Hades arrives to inform the city that the Kraken will destroy it if they do not sacrifice the king's daughter Andromeda (Alexa Davalos). The city has been bad and the gods are tired of Queen Cassiopeia (Polly Walker) boasting how they don't need the gods’ help.

Hades is a nice guy so he gives them like 10 days to decide whether they want to feed the Kraken the city or the princess, and that gives Perseus and his merry men a chance to head off on this huge quest to find a way to destroy the Kraken and save the girl.

The quest also gives Perseus a chance to grow into the epic hero and come to terms with his daddy issues (Zeus is his father through a night he spent with Perseus’s mom which resulted in her death by her jealous husband Acrisius who Hades turns into Calibos).

Perseus discovers he has some natural fighting skills that are the result of his daddy Zeus; falls in quasi-love with the immortal Lo; deals with his step-father Calibos; and learns how to ride a Pegasus in time to save the day.

With all that crammed into 106 minutes, Clash of the Titans should be one thrill-ride of a fast-paced movie. Instead, it seems like it is just overstuffed with action sequences, somewhat bad acting, and no real purpose for being on the screen other than to cash in on 3D, the current craze for mythology/fantasy, and use of CGI.

I am not saying the original was the greatest film ever made, but it did seem better than this – even with dated effects.

A large part of the problem with Clash of the Titans falls squarely on the shoulders of its hero Sam Worthington. The actor is riding high after the success of Avatar (where he played yet another character that grows into the hero by the time the credits rolled), and pretty much plays Perseus the same way he brought Avatar's Jake Sully or even Terminator Salvation's Marcus Wright to the screen.

Some of the fault could be put on the screenwriters for never fully developing the character - since he is constantly being rushed from one battle sequence to the next.

With Worthington taking up the hero mantle for the film, he needs a strong supporting cast in the warriors that go with him on the quest. He gets that from all of them (I am a huge fan of Mads Mikkelsen and the actor is solid in the film), but the pace is so rushed I can’t remember a single name or actor from this group.

I remember they were all good with some supporting characters providing a chuckle here or there, but there wasn’t enough character development to make them stand out. Even the love story between Worthington and Arterton seems stuck on to give the story a little more depth.

The gods are also a bit of a letdown in the film with Neeson pretty much just standing around complaining about how man no longer loves him, and Fiennes snarling as much as possible so we remember that Hades is the bad guy.

Both actors are tremendously talented and it is a shame they weren’t used more in the film – although in defense of the remake the actors playing the gods were pretty wasted in the original as well.

With no real character development or story to make the movie memorable, Leterrier and company depend on the huge battle sequences to give the film a reason to be watched, and on that level it does feel epic at times.

Although there is never a sense that our hero is in any real danger of dying, the other characters are completely disposable and Leterrier makes full use of his larger than life bad guys to dispatch them to the underworld.

The scorpion battle seemed a tad dated and too CGI clunky to really get into. At times, the sequence felt like it belong more in a video game than on the big screen. I did enjoy the Medusa battle and liked how they opened up the journey to her lair. The sequence was probably the most enjoyable of the entire film for me.

I was very letdown by the Kraken at the end of the movie, but it could have been simply I was tired of all the CGI by the time it was unleashed. By the end credits, the film feels like CGI overload and you just want it to be done.

Although I didn’t fully enjoy Clash of the Titans, the film looks incredible on Blu-ray with the format bringing out all the little details that went into it. The format does hurt the movie a tad as some of the CGI looks too fake in the crystal clear picture.

The Blu-ray comes loaded with special features which take you deep into the making of the film, and give you an appreciation for what the filmmakers were trying to accomplish. The Maximum Movie Mode is an informative look at the “making of’ process, but might be too much for just the casual fan.

There is an alternate ending to the film which sees our hero having a harsh talk with his daddy Zeus, but it doesn’t save the film. It also doesn’t have completed effects so it must have been scrapped pretty early in the filmmaking process.

Over time and with multiple viewings, this CGI slick remake of Clash of the Titans might grow on me (again the original is not the greatest movie ever made), but the film has several problems that weigh it down.

It is too clunky and you can’t help but grow tired of it thanks to one big fight scene after the next. It is the classic tale of the hero’s journeys to save the girl, but there is not enough time spent on the characters to really care about what our hero is going through to save the day. The cast is solid in their roles, but there is nothing to make the film seem as epic as its story should be on the screen.