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When I was a little kid, I couldn’t get enough of Ray Harryhausen. Films like the Sinbad saga and Jason and the Argonauts fueled my imagination. When I finally got enough cash to purchase a Super 8 camera, all the first flicks I made were with clay monsters fighting and animated eggs reeking havoc on the kitchen counter. I learned very early in my life the painstaking amount of patience it took to finish these little works. Ray Harryhausen was as much my envied mentor as Willis O’Brien was to Mr. Harryhausen.
By the time Clash of the Titans came out, I was not as impressed by monsters as I was by good storytelling and emotional resonance. When that 1981 film hit theaters, I was so over just seeing monsters. I hated the movie and demanded more. Clash of the Titans just didn’t deliver the cerebral goods.
Now it is a few decades later and computers have taken the place of three dimensional animation. This new Clash of the Titans has everything that is good and everything that is bad about the digital medium.
The story of this version fairly follows the former, which is a very loosely told tale from the ancients. The film is of Perseus, the son of Zeus and a Queen. When the King throws his bastard infant into a sea bound casket, he seals the fate of his people. Zeus commands that the city be destroyed. The baby is found by a fisherman and raised as his son. It is years later and Perseus is a young fisherman in a world where Gods are no longer respected and loved. A group of soldiers destroy a monument to Zeus which unleashed the wraith of Olympus. The melee causes the death of Perseus’ entire family.
He travels to the city that is experiencing just how bad Zeus is when he gets mad. Since this queen has proclaimed that her daughter the princess Andromeda (Alexa Davalos) is the most beautiful creature on heaven and earth, the gods demand that either she be sacrificed or the entire city be demolished by the Kraken. So it is up to Perseus to go to three witches and find out a way to stop the beast and save the princess. The plan involves stealing the head of Medusa.
There are many problems with Clash of the Titans. The biggest concern has to do with the story construction. Except for one destruction, the major action pieces don’t even start until almost an hour into the film. In the original story, Perseus and Andromeda are love interests. In this version, revenge against the Gods is the main thrust of the plot. The difference in motivations make a world of difference in the tone of the piece.
But a film like this one is more about special effects than monsters. During the course of Clash of the Titans, we are subjected to a stunning battle between men and giant scorpions. These gallant men use shield and sword against beasts as big as Buicks, dodging stingers and claws alike. They also have to deal with Medusa, the serpent haired beast who can turn any living thing into stone with just a single glance. Lastly, we get the Kraken, a sea beast so foul that the entire city fears a single tentacle. All three parts are exciting, but it just takes so long to get there that the wait seems almost not worth the effort.
Even though the film is presented in 3-D, there is no reason for it. The process is done so poorly that a View-master is 100% better. Director Louis Leterrier never planned for this flick to be presented with the new process but had it added in post production. The rush of the effect shows how badly the process can be abused. To say that it is a disappointment is to be kind.
Though Sam Worthington is a better actor then Harry Hamlin, he has none of the charms. This version is deadly serious to the point of not being any fun. Sam just scowls and murmurs his lines without any likability. One wants the hero to have some good qualities. Liam Neeson blows and spews lines as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes cowers as Hades. When the two play scenes together, not one piece of scenery is safe from the duo. But when Neeson bellows “release the Kraken”, you know that a CGI melee is about to begin.
I know that Clash of the Titans will make a huge amount of money. It has both the fanboy base and the nostalgia base. Technically it is head and shoulders above the older version but it lacks intuition and emotion. It feels more like a ride or a video game than a motion picture. Lastly, without giving away any spoilers, there is a obvious reference to the original film that is as insulting to those who love the film as to those who hate it. It is a subtle jab that speaks volumes about the lack of respect the filmmakers have for the 1981 flick.
