In 1981, visual effects MASTER Ray Harryhausen created his final stroke of stop motion animation brilliance, with Clash of the Titans. Before this there was a slew of films that showcased his talent in visual effects, far above anything created in that time, with his stunning attention to detail and very effective effects in general. Arguably his greatest achievement are seen in 1963, with Jason And The Argonauts (a childhood favourite of mine), with such memorable sequences as the vicious blue Harpies, the amazing skeleton fight finale and, my favourite part, the awakening of the giant metal titan Talos. Sure, its easy to see that it is stop-motion animation today, but it is still something to marvel at.
In 2010, we return to the ground that is synomous with Harryhausen, with Louis Leterrier’s remake of Clash of the Titans. It is exciting to return to the world of the greek myths, a sub-genre that has remained seemingly dormant since, arguabley the 1981 version of the film, so it is something of interest to return there, not only with the aid of modern technology, but in a newer contemporary sense of mind.
The movie recounts the tale of Perseus, played by sudden Australian sensation Sam Worthington, who is found as a baby by a Grecian fisherman (Pete Postlethwaite). He is raised to a man (in quite a quick filmic pace) and one day on a fishing trip, Perseus encounters the wrath of the gods against man, who wishes to reject them, in the form of lord of the underworld, Hades (Ralph Fiennes) . This soon pulls Perseus into the royal court of Argos, given the mission to go find a way to defeat the mighty monster, the Kraken, to whom will be unleased by Zeus (Liam Neeson) on Argos in 10 days. And so this begins a race against time, across the landscape, with the help of a ragtag group of soldiers, fighting mythical monsters.
There is rich story material within the world of Greek myth, so one cannot fail to entertain with story and in concept, this is why this remake does not totally fail, the action firmly held in the good hands of director Louis Leterrier, who as directed two Luc Besson productions, 2005s Unleashed and Transporter 2, and also the reboot/sequel of Marvels Hulk with 2008s The Incredible Hulk, which not only contained great action and pacing, but great respect to material and entertainment. However, with Clash of the Titans, the film ultimately makes for a disappointment.
The film is heavily effects driven, creating huge action CGI spectacles to which are exciting to a point. However, in the day of every second blockbuster using bountless amounts of CGI, the magic of these creatures is very much lost. The film lacks the charm of the Harryhausen effects, to which Leterrier tried to reintroduce by trying to convince Harryhausen to be part of the film, however declining (fun fact, the robotic owl that Perseus picks up appears in the original movie, so its a funny homage). Its not all bad effectswise, as there are some fine imaginings, such as Ralph Fiennes’ Hades and Medusa, which proves quite terrifying.
The main issue to the film failing its potential is of course the script, filled with horrible cheesy dialogue, that lacks the mythic quality that was instilled in the Harryhausen era, especially Jason And The Argonauts. The pacing of the script, and editing for that matter, is insanely brisk, which is not a great thing. Sure, its good to cut the bullshit and get Perseus onto his mission, but keeping that kinetic pace throughout causes all the characters to become very one dimentional, especially as most of the film is focused on Perseus, leaving the rest of the soldiers almost identityless and therefore their demise becomes something we do not care about. It also misses alot of the brilliance the myth entails, such as the River Styx and Charon and the exposure of the Gods, pushed into the background, so we do not see in depth how they control the Earth below, as seen in the previous films, wasting rich subject matter and acting talent.
The acting for the most part is very wooden, with no part particularly memorable and fully realised. The Schindlers List reunion of Liam Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes as Hades is nice to see, and they do fill the parts well, however they are truly fillers, they are safe picks who will fill the roles well, but nothing more.
Another part worth mentioning is Mads Mikkelsen, who is the leader of the group of soldiers Draco, who is the only character given a slight bit of depth, by way of how he acts with Perseus, his piercing black stare and also his lack of sense of humour, making for a nice little arc, but not a character given much legroom. It must be said too that it is very unfortunate how every soldier has the similar armour and beardy, hair weave hairdo, making them all look the same and not indivdual characters, very annoying.
Speaking of annoying, Sam Worthington, who has been suddenly molded into an action leading man, again does not fit well, mainly due to his piercingly strong Australian accent. Couldn’t he even try to find a middleground with the other characters? Sure, he looks badassed, with his typically un-Grecian hairdo and his costume, but in the end he didnt particularly gel. I thought of this Worthington situation in terms of Sean Connery, a man who, no matter what movie he was in, was ALWAYS Scottish, no matter which nationality he was. While Connery is great value no matter what, Worthington falls very flat. Maybe the Scottish accent is more acceptable than Australian in Hollywood films, or maybe, Worthington is not as engaging as he could be. Here he is very dull and sometimes cringeworthy as Perseus, especially his abrieviated Avatar speech before going after Medusa. I think he needs to find his place in Hollywood, because he has had good roles in the past, for example 2002s Gettin’ Square.
It must be said though that Worthington isnt the worst acting here, but that award goes to Gemma Atherton, who is like nails screeching down a chalkboard as Io, a mysterious entity who watches and helps Perseus. Her voice is a very cheap immitation of Rachel Weisz, and her acting is poor to boot, put in as a potential love interest for Perseus. So very unneeded.
In terms of cinematography, it was very contemporary, in a bad way. In a bad way meaning, conversation scenes utilising subtle shaky cam for no creative reason whatsoever. It also implimented alot of swooping Michael Bay-esq shots, which are purely Hollywood cliche these days, not creative in the slightest. The music was also very uncreative, yet another addition to the horrible trend created by composer Hans Zimmer, i dub it “simple filler music”. I would have been much happier to see the original soundtrack used, it would be something alot better than that tripe.
In the end, i reinterate, its a disappointing film overall due to the amalgamation of effects, poor scripting, acting, cinematography and music. There are some fine moments in the mix, such as Hades appearance in the royal court, the encounter with witches and of course, the Medusa sequence. It’s disappointing for Louis Leterrier who proved himself so well with The Incredible Hulk, so maybe a return to that franchise would be a wiser decision than to possibley continue with an inevitable sequel to this dross. If you want to see some good mythic action, go watch some Ray Harryhausen, it’s awesome.
1.5/5
