Clash of the Titans

Mix Greek mythology,  big ass scorpions, a huge sea creature, some freaky witches, and amazing CGI and what do you get? Clash of the Titans.  Perhaps you have seen the original 1981 version.  Perhaps you haven't.  At the time the '81 version was considered state-of-the-art as this one is.  The only difference is that in the original, the story was not sacrificed in order to make the CGI more entertaining.  I mean, it's pretty obvious that we only want things that are visually appealing and not something with substance as well.  It's kinda sad actually. Whatever, I digress.

Clash of the Titans is one of the many that are following in the hottest trend of 3D blockbuster movies, with the likes of Avatar (also with Clash of the Titans star Sam Worthington) and others.  Is it just me, by the way, or are the writers giving Sam Worthington the SAME character in every movie he is in? As a fan of the original, I really had high expectations for this one, and like I said before, it did not disappoint as a popcorn blockbuster flick.  Also, looking at Gemma Arterton (you know, Strawberry Fields from Quantum of Solace) for 2 hours is worth my 11 bucks for sure.

             Gemma Arterton is quite attractive as Io.

Sam Worthington reprises the character he uses for all of his movies, as the reluctant hero who only wants to be left alone, then realizes he is a bad ass and just kills everyone.  Not a bad run to be in Avatar, Terminator Salvation, and now Clash of the Titans.  One of the best roles that I loved about this movie, however, was from an unlikely source: Liam Neeson as Zeus? Yeah, apparently Liam Neeson is well suited to play and toy with people's lives in his chess board up in the clouds, all the while wearing a bright shining suit.  Also, Ralph Fiennes as Hades was quite good, except I kept expecting him to wave a wand and shout "Crucio!" at the top of his lungs.

The trailer, like most trailers today, give away too much, because I wish we didn't get to see the Kraken (the giant sea creature) until actually in the movie.  The scale of this monster is so large, that I couldn't really fathom it while watching the movie for the first time.  But what I really enjoyed about this movie, and respect it for, is that they did not make a carbon copy of the original.  Instead, the producers and writers tried to take the idea and put in some fresh ideas (albeit some were just cheap entertainment ploys, but anyway).  There were even some quick references to the original movie in this version, so quick in fact you could probably miss it if you blink

   




The new Kraken (above) vs. Old Kraken (right) from '81.     








Summary: 4/4 for CGI, 2/4 for story (so does that mean 3/4 in all? I'll say yeah)
Bottom line: See it in 3D for sure (why would you not?) and prepare to be entertained.