I never got a chance to see this when it went to theaters, but that’s what DVDs are for! The premise of this reboot of Clash of the Titans isn’t too much different from the original Titans movie; fisherman Perseus (Sam Worthington) finds out he’s the demigod son of Zeus (Liam Neeson) as well as being the only one to save the Andromeda, Princess of Argos, from the Kraken, a monster Hades (Ralph Fiennes) has released at the request of Zeus in order to make humans subservient to the gods once again. However, Hades has plans of his own.

There are some key problems in this film, the  main one being that the film doesn’t live up to its title. When I see the title Clash of the Titans, I expect an actual clash. In this film, the friction between the humans and the self-absorbed gods is hinted at, and the war between them is always on the verge of happening, but we only get to see one attack–the destruction of the statue of who I’m presuming to be Poseidon (or I guess it could be Zeus; the movie doesn’t actually say), which affects Perseus’s life tremendously. Never do we see Perseus fight any of the gods (Zeus and Hades especially for a specific reason), something he should be doing, considering what he’s been through and how he came to be in the first place. There are a lot of clues and plot points that seem like they should lead up to a grand battle–Zeus giving Perseus the gift of a mighty sword for one. How awesome it would have been for Perseus to fight Zeus, his own father, with the very sword Zeus gave him. It would’ve been poignant and very fitting for Perseus’s heroic journey. But they bypass all of this and go for an odd ending, making Zeus, who had been a bastard for most of the movie, suddenly turn into some benevolent and apologetic god/father. A bit disappointing, to be sure.

Also, the film seems to flit from wanting to be an epic film to a man’s man action/adventure/comedy movie. A lot of the “humor” in this film ends up being very Emmerich-esque; if the two brothers/monster killers Ozal and Kucuk (Ashraf Barhom and Mouloud Achour, respectively) were in Independence Day or Godzilla, they wouldn’t be out of place. And many of the challenges Perseus had to face from the 1981 film are cut out completely, leaving a very small, insignificant hero’s journey that doesn’t have time and/or enough meat to be able to fully show Perseus learning more about himself and how to be a hero.

To go back to Zeus and the gods for a second–the gods are not really expanded upon in terms of story and character development. We know that Zeus wants and thrives on the “love” of the humans (even though he has an odd way of showing it). However, the movie doesn’t really expand on that idea, or use any better words other than “love”. “Love” in this case is a bit of a broad term for what Zeus wants. What he really wants is power, not love. He could care less about love. If he really “loved” humans, he wouldn’t ruin someone else’s life (which also caused Perseus to come into existence).  As stated above, the film changes his character 180 degrees from an awful ruler to some apologetic father. We didn’t get to see why and how he changed so suddenly; it’s just taped on.

Hades is probably the more developed of the gods in this movie. We have his clear motives, and he’s arguably the cooler designed of the gods. But still, something is missing with him. His plan, which could theoretically work, is presented in a half-baked way, which pulls the rug out from under Hades’s grand characterization.

Also, there are a ton of gods that only have one–or no–lines in the film. Apollo (Luke Evans) only says one or two lines, and I can’t even remember if Athena (Izabella Miko) said anything at all, but she’s in here.

The one character that is simultaneously necessary and expendable is Io (Gemma Arterton). Io is necessary since she has to set much of the exposition, but because she’s only needed for exposition, she starts feeling more like dead weight instead of a wise goddess who has looked after Perseus his whole life. She doesn’t even really do much fighting. Her backstory is mentioned as well as her reason for protecting Perseus, but there is no pathos behind it, no real motivation for the audience to feel empathetic to Io, her plight, and her decisions. And the fact that the film tries to force a love connection between Io and Perseus is just awkward and entirely unnecessary. If there is any action movie where a love scene/love interest is not needed, it’s this one. There is just too much at stake for anyone to be worrying about finding love.

I know what they were trying to do with Perseus; he is supposed to be like a Grecian version of Batman, wanting to do stuff as a man, without any special help or favors from anyone. If they had steeled themselves and went gung-ho along that route and cut out all of the filler, this film would have seemed less tangential. Overall, this is a good movie to watch at home for slight diversion, but you might want to wait until it goes on sale.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

DVD version: Additional features

Blu-Ray version: DVD and digital copies, “Maximum Movie Mode” track featuring commentaries and interviews from the cast and crew, “Focus Points”, “Sam Worthington: An Action Hero for the Ages” featurette, and an  alternate ending

Written by Mark Trammell, movie critic for UAB’s school newspaper, Kaleidoscope

When I was a kid, a local theatre used to have these children film festivals and I lived right down the street, so I would go all the time during the summer. One fateful week, they had a Ray Harryhausen film festival, and I got to see the Sinbad flicks, One Million Years B.C., (aka the one with Rachel Welch in a fur bikini- an effect unto itself), Jason and the Argonauts (aka the one with the skeleton army that Sam Raimi ripped off…er, paid “homage” to in Army of Darkness), and last but certainly not least, Clash of the Titans.
For those who don’t know, Harryhausen was an amazing stop-motion artist that did cool animated models of monsters the same way they do those Rudolph Christmas specials and Nightmare Before Christmas and the like- frame by frame, inch by painstaking inch. In some ways his work will never quite be paralleled, if only because hardly anyone does it like that anymore. It’s all computer technology these days, for better or worse- not that computers aren’t painstaking in their own way.
So, when I heard tell of a new remake of Titans, I was both excited and nervous. Would everything I loved about the original be jettisoned in exchange for one of these typical, humorless, pieces of grade-F Hollywood crapola? Or would it be the rare instance they got it right?

Thankfully, it’s not a total train wreck, and parts of it are pretty darn enjoyable. The giant scorpions are present and accounted for, although I don’t recall anyone riding one like an elephant in the original. (Actually, cooler than it sounds.) Medusa is also duly represented, although she looked less like a Russian supermodel in the face in the original. Still, the results are nicely surreal and Medusa can definitely do cool stuff she couldn’t the first time out, like snake up pillars and smack people with her tail and the like. And, but of course, the Kraken is released! It looks a bit like a buff version of the freaky monster in the Korean monster movie The Host and is pretty way-a cool, if I do say so myself.

The stuff left out from the original is negligible, unless you prefer your toga-fests campy. The robot bird is given the boot in a dismissive- if funny- throwaway gag. Reportedly, grumpy-pants star Sam Worthington was dead-set against the not-so-beloved Bubo, but I think it was for the best. It’s not that kind of film. Not that there aren’t some jokes here and there, but they stay just to the left of being campy, or as un-campy as a movie with a tag line like “Release the Kraken!” can be. I can’t decide if that was for the best or not.
You also lose the star power of the Gods and the Goddesses of the first film, save Liam Neeson (Taken) as head honcho Zeus- he actually volunteered for the film and brings a zesty swagger to the role- and erstwhile Voldemort Ralph Fiennes as Hades. The rest are a faceless lot, including the main cast, for the most part. All the better to keep the budget down, no doubt.
Another lost cast-mate is the multi-headed dog that guards the gates of Hell. I knew my Greek mythology, and I remember being up in arms that they renamed the dog something other than Cerberus in the original film, and cold took away one of his heads to boot! Well, they had the technology, to be sure, but everyone’s favorite literary evil dog this side of Cujo is, alas, not present and accounted for.

Worthington does basically the same thing he’s been doing for the last two movies he’s done (Avatar and Terminator Salvation ), which is to adopt a gruff demeanor that splits the difference between Christian Bale’s Batman and fellow Aussie Russell Crowe’s growl. He was made for movies like this, but it will be interesting to see if he can expand his range in the future. If not, he’s certainly got an assured future in action films, a la Jason Statham (Crank).
Also worth a mention is the literally luminous cutie Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace) as female sidekick/love interest/occasional butt-kicker Io, who I assume takes the place of the original’s Burgess Meredith. She’s certainly nicer to look at than Rocky’s manager, and will be cropping up in the potentially-promising summer Blockbuster contender Prince of Persia. Alexas Devalos (The Mist) plays the suitably attractive Kraken bait, Andromeda, who must be sacrificed when mom compares thee to a Goddess, a big no-no in Greek times. So, it’s up to demi-god (that would be half-human, half-God, and not to be confused with Demi Levato) Perseus, son of Zeus to save the day and the virgin. You know the drill. When you think about it, Zeus and Co. are kind of the creepy rapist-types in Greek mythology. Those wacky Gods, sneaking off into hot girls’ bedrooms disguised as their husbands, knocking them up with demi-babies! Ick.
The one big letdown is the 3D, which was retrofitted after the fact to cash in on the current craze, and adds nothing whatsoever to the proceedings. In fact, sad to say, the preview for the shot-in-3D from the get-go Piranha remake packed more fun 3D effects into about two minutes than Clash of the Titans does in its entirety. Or maybe that’s just me.

That’s not to say the film isn’t fun in its own way, just that the 3D was unnecessary. If they had shot it that way in the first place, fine, but this after-the-fact thing gets on my nerves, because the results are middling at best. Now that Avatar has raised the bar, it’s time for people to step it up. Don’t just make it 3D to make more cash, deliver the goods.
Beyond that, Greek mythology sword-and-sandal fests are either your thing or they’re not.
Personally, I could watch this sort of thing all day, so I enjoyed it, but those nostalgic for campier flicks will just have to wait for the inevitable Beastmaster remake. Oh, you know it’s coming! Will Kodo and Podo make the cut, or will they go the way of poor Bubo? Stay tuned!

Clash of the Titans is about to come to theaters April 2 (and the 1981 version is out for download on iTunes), probably signaling a revived interest in classical Greek characters and stories. Will new-school Titans go down as a classic among the other Greek stories that have graced Hollywood? Here’s a list of some of the more recent films Hollywood has to offer in Greek-themed movies:

Disney’s Hercules

The story of Hercules has been redone and remade plenty of times, the most thought-of version being the television series that acted as a bookend to Xena: Warrior Princess, but never was the story of Hercules given such a colorful twist as when Disney molded the story to fit its “Love Conquers All” mantra. Sure, the mythology was watered down for children (who wants to see Zeus as the affair-ridden husband and Hera as the harpy they actually were? (although Disney made Hercules’ randy satyr trainer Phil fill in for Zeus’ roving eye)), and Hercules actually killed Megara later on the original story, but the Disney version is the one that makes you happy to know a little bit about Greek mythology as well as the fact that Disney can make any story happy and upbeat. And, come on, how can you hate on Disney when they made Hercules into a cute, naïve farm boy? I dare you to hate!

300

300 is based on the historical Battle of Thermopylae about the battle waged between 300 Spartans and a sea of Persians over control of the land. The graphic novel was groundbreaking, and the movie even more so, if only for the effects used to create a visual reiteration of the graphic novel’s inking and coloring style. Since its big-screen debut, the film has become one of the quotable movies of the 21^st century. Who doesn’t love screaming, “THIS…IS…SPARTA!” or “Tonight, we dine in Hell!”?

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

A newcomer to the trilogy movie set, Percy Jackson, based on the book series of the same name, is about a boy who finds out that he’s related to Greek gods. The movie is poised to take over the spot Harry Potter will leave behind once the last of the movies are rolled out, and it seems like it’s fitting into its upcoming role very nicely already.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Not initially thought of as a riff on Greek literature, Brother is based on the epic The Odyssey, where hero Odysseus travels to mythical places and encounters magical women and goddesses in his quest to get home. In the film, three escaped prisoners embark on a journey to recover $1.2 million one of the prisoners stole from an armored car. The film is now a modern classic, and the soundtrack earned the film an Oscar win.

Troy

While not an esteemed movie by any stretch of the imagination, this film is probably only popular with those who like to see Brad Pitt without a shirt and pants (ditto for Gerard Butler in 300). The film is based on the Trojan War, taking material from the Homer’s Iliad and the Virgil’s Aeneid. Even if the film flopped stateside, it did receive a lot of love from the international circuit.

My Fair Lady, Weird Science, Mannequin

All of these movies vary in how classic they are in the scope of film literature, but they’ve all got the same origins in Greek literature. These stories of men falling in love with women they’ve changed/created is based on the story of Pygmalion from Ovid’s Metamorphoses X, who falls in love with a statue he carved. This story has been riffed on more than just in these three movies; this story is probably the most popular story conceit as well as the easiest to reproduce in different, modern ways.

What other movies can you think of that have been influenced by ancient Greece? While you’re leaving your comments below, don’t forget to see Clash of the Titans April 2, and download the original Clash of the Titans (including a sneak peek of the upcoming remake) from iTunes.

Information from Wikipedia:

Films list

Troy

Pygmalion

Battle of Thermopylae

Fans of the old-school fantasy movies- your prayers have been answered. Click here to go to iTunes and download the Ray Harryhausen classic Clash of the Titans. , and as a bonus, you also get a sneak peek into the new Clash of the Titans. The sneak peek includes interviews with the director and cast and offers an inside look into the making of the movie. Also, the classic The NeverEnding Story is available at iTunes; click here to download.