Clash Of The Titans

Directed this time around by Loius Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk) with the screenplay by Travis Beacham and Phil Hay, COTT is a remake of the 1981 version originally directed by Desmond Davis. For those of you who haven't seen the original, do rent it out, it's such a fun movie! The part that has stuck in my brain for so many years from the original was a whole lot of plasticine and Bubo the metallic owl flying around everywhere.
In this version, there is no plasticine in sight, however Bubo does make a thankfully brief appearance.
Like a class in Greek Mythology 101, COTT is the story of Perseus (Sam Worthington) and the quest he goes on to save the future of man kind. No mean feat, but someone has gotta do it. Perseus isn't your average guy, his father was Zeus which makes Perseus a demi-god and super special.
Life in Ancient Greece is tough, the Gods aren't listening to man anymore because men aren't listening to the Gods anymore. The Gods of Olympus live off the worship of man and the cupboard is getting bare. Zeus (Liam Neeson) and Hades (Ralph Fiennes) have a bit of a chat and decide the only way to get man to worship them again is to scare the shite out of them. They plan to unleash hell (aka The Kraken) unless cocky King Kepheus (Vincent Reagan) sacrifices his daughter Andromeda (Alexa Davalos) before the eclipse in ten days time.
Enter Perseus. His adoptive family were killed by the Poseidon when their boat sank to the bottom of the ocean. Perseus is pissed. He gets thrown in with a group of Praetorian guards hell bent on destroying the Kraken and saving mankind from the will of the Gods.
Lead by Draco (Mads Mikkelsen) the guards and Perseus are joined by cursed beauty Io (Bond girl Gemma Arterton) and a member of the Djinn - a mysterious race of wooden creatures who are really good at fighting and taming scorpions.
Much like the original, Perseus and co fight giant scorpions, battle with Medusa and eventually take on the mammoth Kraken. This time around, Leterrier has amped up the action a few dozen notches and has given us quite a show sans stop animation sequences.
I really enjoyed the opening sequence, a voice-over guided us through the constellations high up in the heavens while introducing the main characters. Seemed like a nice touch as we've stolen many names from Greek mythology and given them to the stars.
The special effects are really well done, although I must say Medusa looked pretty, well, crap. Compared with the rest of the effects, she was a bit of a let down. I think she was all CGI, perhaps if they'd modelled her on an actual actor she might have turned out better? Maybe?
The Kraken was pretty impressive. Zeus' white shining suit of armour was simply dazzling. And Lord Voldemort, oops, Hades' wings of black smoke was awesome. Deep Space Nine fans will be thrilled to see Alexander Siddig (Dr Julian Bashir) as Hermes; at least I was, I had such a crush on Dr Bashir.
*swoon*
I saw it in 2D, it didn't seem like the kind of movie that needed to be seen in 3D (like Avatar, Alice in Wonderland). Also, the 3D-ness was added post production so I don't know if that is a good thing or not. I might try it out in 3D just to see the difference but I don't think there would be much. Sure there were things flying at the screen every now and then but I don't feel it detracted from the story by not seeing it in 3D. Seems they want everything in 3D these days but does the story warrant it? That is the question one must ask before departing with those extra few dollars and donning those not so comfortable glasses for two hours.
Fans of action flicks will not be disappointed, there's loads of sword on sword action; fans of men in skirts will be very satisfied, Sam Worthington has very shapely legs : )
If you're wondering why the chap who plays Eusebios looks so familiar, it's Nicholas Hoult, he was the kid in About A Boy with Hugh Grant - all grown up now.
I was a bit scared of the hype, as always, but was pleasantly surprised. Clash Of The Titans is a great popcorn movie; it's no Oscar contender but hey, it was a fun way to spend an afternoon.
Things I learned: riding on a giant scorpion looks just like riding on an elephant; if one is required to wear a leather skirt, colour coordinated underwear is a must; I really want Liam Neeson saying 'Release the Kraken' as a ringtone!
Eight out of ten.