Clash of the Titans

Clash of the Titans

Starring: Sam Worthington, Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson, Alexa Davalos, Danny Huston

Directed by: Louis Leterrier

Reviewed by: Conor Flynn







If ever there was a story that could benefit from a remake it would have to be Clash of the Titans. The original 1981 film was average at best; held together less by its clunky story and more so by its stop motion special effects from maestro Ray Harryhausen in what proved to be his final film. Fast forward almost thirty years and this time around CGI takes precedence over stop motion effects, but is the film an improvement? Let’s just say that the story is slightly improved, but not by much. A war has begun between man and the gods. The gods, lead by Zeus (Neeson), demand the sacrifice of Princess Andromeda (Davalos), otherwise the city of Argos will be destroyed by the monstrous Kraken. Standing in the way of this battle is Perseus (Worthington), a demigod whose family is murdered by Hades (Fiennes)…

Clash of the Titans is basically a series of set-pieces. Your enjoyment of the film will depend on whether or not you willing to jettison story telling in favour of some mixed special effects action sequences. Unfortunately this new film lacks the wow factor of the earlier films stop motion effects, but makes do with a few highlights, particularly the battle against the Scorpioks. This segment is enjoyable to watch, and surprisingly, ends in a splatter filled demise reminiscent of the giant bugs from ‘Starship Troopers’.

There is also a certain cute factor to it when the Scorpioks are used to carry our heroes to their next stop. The other highlight of the film is the Pegasus/flying horse, which is a thing of beauty. Sadly the other creatures of the film don’t pad out as well, but more on than later. Another enjoyable element is the unintentionally amusing performances from both Fiennes and Neeson, the latter who glitters even more so than he did almost thirty years ago in ‘Excalibur’. Disco ball or not, his performance is hammy, whereas Fiennes crews the scenery.

Once again, much like in the original film, the battle between the Kraken remains an anti-climax. The build-up is good, but inevitably ends too quickly. The reverse can be said of the sequence involving Medusa. Unlike the original film, the sequence lacks a build-up and jettisons any notion of atmosphere in favour of speedy action. It’s all the more surprising then that this Medusa sequence drags the most, but it’s still far better than the gorgons recent appearance in the trudged ‘Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief’. The main problem with the film is Louis Leterrier’s po-faced direction. Little to no humour seeps through with the exception of a small cameo from the mechanical owl from the original film. Regrettably the 3D, which has been retrofitted, isn’t nearly up to scratch, looking mostly flat and drab in colour.

Overall, the film is good, but could, and should, have been much more fun than really is. Clash of the Titans is worth checking out, though I’d be hesitant to recommend the 3D version of the film.