This past weekend a remake of the 1981 movie “Clash of the Titans†came out in theaters. Now although this is being branded as a remake, it’s really a retelling of the story. In this version, humans have given up on praising the gods and Zeus (Liam Neeson) is not happy about it. His brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes) tells him that they should make the humans suffer until they have no other choice but to pray to them for forgiveness. Meanwhile Zeus discovers that he fathered a son many years ago with a human woman, who has now grown up to be half man, half god also known as a demi-god. His son is named Perseus (Sam Worthington) and he lives among the humans who the gods seek to punish. Hades visits the humans and tells them that in ten days they must offer their princess Andromeda (Alexa Davalos) as a sacrifice, or suffer the wrath of the mighty beast, the Kracken. Perseus, not having any contact with Zeus and raised by a family that found him when he was a baby, decides that he will find a way to kill the Kracken, and also send Hades back to the underworld. Hades who gains strength from the fears of humans wants Perseus to fail on his mission so that he can seize power from Zeus, who gets his powers from the humans worshiping him. Zeus, not trusting Hades, decides that he will help Perseus along his journey, thereby giving the humans a chance to redeem themselves. On his mission Perseus will have to battle many demons and beast to get to Medusa’s lair, for she is the key to defeating the mighty Kracken. Will Perseus accept the help he needs from his father Zeus? Or will he choose to create his own destiny?
Back in 1981, “Clash of the Titans†was a huge success. It had a huge following, and many people were anticipating the release of this remake, I included. I have to say that I did not like the changes that were done to the storyline in this version. In the original, Perseus did all of this for his love of Andromeda. In this one, that is not the case. Also in the original, Zeus and Athena were at odds, not him and Hades. Another change from the original was that in this one, Perseus didn’t want to accept any help from his father Zeus, whereas in the original, he welcomed the gifts that were given to him by Zeus. Then there were also new characters added to the retelling of the story, which I thought was a big mistake. One group of characters that were new was these dessert dwelling creatures, which just turned the story in a whole different direction. In the battle with Medusa, she couldn’t even turn one of them into stone with her gaze, I guess because they weren’t human, but yet the kracken beast was still vulnerable to her powers. Now I have heard that they are trying to make this a series of movies, thereby continuing adventures with Perseus. That’s all fine and dandy, but they could have still stuck with the original storyline and did that. Then there was the push to release this movie in 3D. Hollywood has gotten into a 3D frenzy over the success of “Avatarâ€. This movie had no significant reason to be turned 3 dimensional. There was only one scene that I actually remember were the 3D came into play. Hollywood is just becoming greedy for money, and at a time of a recession, no one wants to have to be paying any were of upwards of $14.50 per person, or more to go to the movies.
“Avatar†was made to be 3D from the start. It engulfed the viewer in the surroundings of the movie, and made you feel like you were in the environment. This movie going 3D was just an excuse to get an extra $3 dollars per ticket sell, and that’s just wrong. Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, I felt Sam Worthington did a great performance in the lead role. He was actually more convincing as a warrior than the choice that was made in the original, but that’s about it. I also felt that although all of the mythical characters got a touch up, effect wise in this one, they didn’t make the battles anymore epic. The two biggest battles, one with Medusa, and one with the Kracken, should have been much better and a lot longer. All of that special effects to make the Kracken look even more menacing, and we didn’t even get to see him do any destruction, it was really a waste. I walked out of this movie feeling like I just got robbed. In a battle of the “Titan†movies, the 1981 original wins hands down. I give this movie 1 ¾ bolts of lightning out of 4. They started off wrong by changing the storyline, and it just got worst as the movie progressed. If they are planning on making this a series of movies, I hope they are going to have some good storylines, because this one just didn’t measure up. The movie ran 1hr. and 50mins. It was rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence, some frightening images and brief sensuality. It was written by Matt Manfredi, Phil Hay, and Travis Beacham from source material from the original movie by Beverley Cross. It was directed by Louis Leterrier. It was produced by Thunder Road Pictures, Legendary Pictures, Inc. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution.
If you can’t improve on a concept, leave it as it was. Ezo
