Clash of the Titans (2010)
Directed by: Louis Leterrier
Premise: A remake of the 1981 film and a retelling of Greek mythology. Perseus (Sam Worthington) must save the city of Argos when the gods threaten to destroy it.
What Works: There are a few stand out action scenes in Clash of the Titans and there is also a fair amount of humor which helps the film quite a bit.
What Doesn’t: Despite big production values, Clash of the Titans is a mundane movie to watch. The characters are all pretty flat and there is no effort to build interesting relationships between them. As Perseus goes on his journey, there is no sense of tension or dramatic urgency and it is unclear where he is going or for what purpose. The action scenes lack any sense of rising action or narrative cohesion. There is plenty of noise and swordplay but very little dramatic structure to these scenes; the action starts and stops arbitrarily and there is nothing gained by the end of these sequences either in character or in plot. Clash of the Titans repeats scenarios from Jurassic Park and The Mummy, but not nearly as well, and the quality of the special effects in this film varies dramatically from some very impressive giant scorpions to a very mediocre Medusa. Disappointingly, the lesser special effects of Clash of the Titans are actually inferior to films that were made ten or more years ago. Clash of the Titans is shown theatrically in 3-D and the quality of that effect is also poor. Nothing sticks out of the screen, nor does the image contain much depth, and the film would play just the same in 2-D.
Bottom Line: The original Clash of the Titans was not a great movie but it was fun in a kitschy sort of way. The remake is empty, without the character or the fun of the original, and viewing it is like watching someone else play a video game.
Episode: #283 (April 11, 2010)