Starring: Sam Worthington, Gemma Arterton, Mads Mikkelsen, Alexa Davalos, Ralph Fiennes, and Liam Neeson
With Wrath of the Titans being released this weekend, it's the perfect time to revisit the 2010 remake that started it all. When the movie hit theaters a couple of years ago, it got panned by critics. Nonetheless, the movie made big bucks at the office. With studio execs having fatter wallets, there was no doubt that there was going to be a sequel. Before you go back to the theaters to check out the next chapter of the franchise, let's talk about the first in the series, Clash of the Titans.
Perseus (Sam Worthington) grows up knowing nothing about his actual birth parents. All he knows is that his de facto father Spyro (Pete Postlethwaite) and his mother Marmara (Elizabeth McGovern) found him in his birth mother's casket as a baby boy. Many years later, the family is out at sea fishing below a statue of Zeus (Liam Neeson) in the city of Argos. When the soldiers of the city desecrate the statue in an act to defy the gods, the Olympians in turn unleash the Furies on the people of Argos and unfortunately Perseus' family. When the Furies collectively take the form of Hades (Ralph Fiennes), they kill Spyros, Marmara, and any family Perseus has ever known.
Perseus survives the attack and is brought to Argos by Draco (Mads Mikkelsen), the leader of the city's Praetorian Guard. There, he gets a front row seat for the battle between Argos and the gods. When King Cepheus (Vincent Regan) and Queen Cassiopeia (Polly Walker) prematurely celebrate their victory over the Olympians, Hades crashes the party. After killing most of the soldiers, Hades finds that there's one man he can't kill—Perseus—who in fact is a demigod and the son of Zeus.
Hades then gives the king an ultimatum—to sacrifice his beloved daughter Princess Andromeda (Alexa Davalos) or to sacrifice his kingdom to a monstrous beast known as the Kraken. The king wants to sacrifice neither and turns to the newfound demigod Perseus for help. Perseus just wants to get revenge on the god who killed his family. He ultimately goes on a journey along with the King's Guard to go on a quest to figure out how to kill the Kraken if that is possible.
Clash of the Titans is purely an action spectacle. We all watch it to see some soldiers wielding swords, some gods showing off their powers, and some ancient monsters wreaking havoc all over Greece. You'll definitely get this with kickass action sequences and impressive special effects. That's not enough though. There's something missing. For all the great action that's delivered, the cast drops the ball and doesn't make the action worthwhile. With the production budget that the film had, it should have been much better.
The plot of Clash of the Titans is decent, but its execution on the big screen is awful. Sam Worthington and Gemma Arterton just can't carry the film. They don't have the star power or charisma to make me care about Perseus and Io. Their characters are pretty boring, and this really drags the film down. On top of this, most of the veteran actors are completely underutilized. The acting royalty is limited to mediocrity throughout the movie. We've got Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes, and they're reduced to petulant little deities having temper tantrums.
While Clash of the Titans has lots of potential, this remake is ultimately just not satisfying. It's clearly a lackluster effort by the studio to make a quick buck. Great action is coupled with not-so-great acting. That being said, you’re definitely going to need some liquor to get through this movie. I have to give Clash of the Titans a 0.09% rating. Grab a few whiskey sours and get tipsy for this one.
