Clash of the Titans

By coincidence, Clash of the Titans is the second movie I've seen this week featuring Greek gods. A remake of the more campy 1981 film, it oddly features no Titans at all (the Titans were the progenitors of the Olympians: Zeus, Hades, Athena, etc., who are on hand).

When the film was released last year it got hammered by some critics who claimed that it was not worth being upgraded to 3D. I watched it in good old 2D, and while it is no classic, I had an okay time with it. The action is straightforward, there is little padding, and some of the special effects are good.

As with the original film, the film deals with the myth of Perseus (Sam Worthington), the demigod and son of Zeus who is called upon to defeat the gods. He is raised by a poor fisherman (Pete Postlethwaite), who gets killed as an innocent bystander by mean old Hades (Ralph Fiennes, wearing a ridiculous beard). Mankind is rebelling against the gods, which is making Zeus (Liam Neeson) both mad and sad, because he loves mankind. Hades, on the other hand, who was tricked by Zeus into ruling the underworld, sees this as an opportunity to overthrow Zeus, unleashing his secret weapon--a monster called the Kraken.

The film takes the form of a quest, with Perseus joining a band of hardy warriors, plus another demigod, Io (Gemma Arterton). They need to destroy the Kraken before the next eclipse, or the entire country of Argos will be destroyed. That is, unless Andromeda (Alexa Davalos), is sacrificed. After a visit to the some witches, Perseus, learns that the head of Medusa is the key.

Mostly Clash of the Titans is silly fun. Worthington makes a stolid and respectable hero, and Mads Mikkelsen is good as first his detractor, and then his ally. The good special effects include some giant scorpions, the bad is the depiction of Medusa. I figured she was completely CGI, but then saw that she was "played" by supermodel Natalia Vodianova. I imagine only her face was used to project upon a CGI creation that seemed to advance little beyond the age of Ray Harryhausen.

Of course, my favorite moment in the film, as it was when I saw the endless commercials for it last year, was when Neeson says, in full Royal Shakespeare timbre, "Release the Kraken!" I think that phrase can be a euphemism for almost anything.