The simple truth is that movie fans really enjoy a good spectacle, something loosed from our imaginations while – and here’s the catch – grounded in reality so we feel connected. That’s a two-part formula that in the hands of good storytellers and filmmakers can produce what can be lovingly labeled as ‘magic‘. I won’t follow that with a list of titles that work because, you know, it’s short and they’re already happily skipping about in your heads now anyway. Am I right?
Either way, this 2014 remake of the 1981 original, works prodigiously hard to make that formula work, the technology in moviemaking advanced enough to produce some stunning visuals in bringing gods and monsters to believable cinematic life helping a lot in that effort. This is a movie set in epic scale with a story wrapped around the very destiny of mankind. Heavy stuff. Let’s talk about if it matters. It’s Clash of the Titans.
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: After the gods defeat the titans, something seen in abstract before the story begins, Zeus (Liam Neeson) takes controls of the skies above the world, Poseidon (Danny Huston) the seas and oceans, and poor Hades (Ralph Fiennes) gets tricked into serving the underworld, where the souls go after death. As you might guess, he’s not all that happy about his place in the takeover, so with time slowly souring him, sets off in secret vengeance. As one does.
Meanwhile, Zeus creates Man (you and me), mortal beings whose adulation for their makers is what keeps the gods alive (a loophole it seems someone should have caught). However, over time, the people begin to grow weary of the gods and their abuses, giving up their prayers and actively resisting Zeus. Petty as he is, Zeus descends in disguise and sleeps with the wife of King Acrisius (Jason Flemyng) after he led a failed attack on Mt. Olympus. She bears a son named Perseus, who the king, in rage, sends to the bottom of the sea along with his soiled wife.
Thing is, Perseus is a demigod and survives, rescued by a fisherman (Pete Postlethwaite) and raised as his own. The boy grows to a man (Sam Worthington), who sees the death of his mortal father at the hands of Hades and vows his own revenge, aiming to take his fight to Zeus himself in facing the most terrible beast standing between them, a foul god-born creature lying in wait, once unleashed will spell the very end of humanity itself. UNLEASH THE … you know the rest.
REVIEW: Loosely based on Greek mythology, director Louis Leterrier‘s adaptation is a relatively serviceable entry that isn’t looking to educate or draw metaphorical conclusions from the lessons of its origins but rather, quite simply, entertain. It accomplishes that with a sort of gleeful abandon where most everything we see on screen leaps the fence to silliness while every character that’s part of it, remains deadly seriousness. That’s a tough call to make, but I think it works, even if the people we are meant to side with don’t exactly lull any passion from us about their fates. More problematic, the dialogue is often delivered like they or on stage enunciating for an audience in the back row. It’s a dramatic style that sort of fits with the theater-like presentation, but it’s sometimes wonky.
Worthington has never been one that runs the peaks and valleys of emotions in his performances that well, yet there is an undeniable authenticity to him that makes him very appealing. He gives Perseus a sentimental quality that keeps us more than interested in his fate, as he ventures into a world of dangerous adventures and blossoming romance. He shares the screen with some real talents, some already mentioned, but also alongside the likes of Mads Mikkelsen, who is biologically incapable of delivering a bad performance, Gemma Arterton, who is underused but affecting, and Nicholas Hoult, who doesn’t get seen a lot but is notable for this being one of his early roles.
Neeson and Fiennes chew up everything else while the production itself takes on the larger duty of carrying us forward with the promise of a battle between Medusa and of course, the Kraken. In that respect, the film doesn’t let us down, the visual effects enormous but not overwhelming, especially considering the setting. This is a fun, accessible experience that should spur most to go find out more about the mythology behind it. Or at least should. I’ll get you started.
THAT MOMENT IN: I really wanted to focus on the relationship between Perseus and a woman named Io (Arterton), a girl cursed with agelessness. However, the movie is so crowded with what it needs to have in getting us to the end, it doesn’t have time to let this bittersweet bond gestate enough to make it impactful. So, I’m gonna cave and talk about an action sequence that I think best sums up the world this film is trying to build. And it starts with the doom of rebellious king.
Angered by the gods and their lack of empathy for those that sustain them, King Acrisius leads an assault against Zeus, which leads the angered god to impregnate the king’s wife. As mentioned, she is cast to and left to die in the sea along with her infant. She does, but the boy, himself part-man part-god, outlasts the waters and comes to be raised by a poor but dedicated fisherman. In the years that follow, Perseus catches fish, sure, but he learns what it means to be human. Duh.
Meanwhile, Zeus smites the king, turning him into a disfigured creature known as Calibos, banishing him to the bleakest of caves. It is there, years later, where Hades finds him and imbibes him with great and terrible powers, bending his will to become his assassin to kill Perseus. Grateful for a chance at wounding Zeus, Calibos emerges from the dark and goes on the hunt.
It doesn’t take long. He finds the demigod in arms with a small band of soldiers, they themselves in service to a king who also denounces Zeus. Why and how this allegiance was born, I’ll leave for you to discover, but we find the ragged group of hardened fighters on a quest, their leader, the fierce Draco (Mikkelsen) finding it hard to trust Perseus. However, that trust gets some juice when, in the sands, Calibos takes his show, attacking and injuring the son of Zeus (He bites him! How is that fair?). Draco joins the fray, and in the action slashes at the creature with a swift blow of his sword, slicing off the former king’s hand. Oh, and sorry about this picture. Maybe should have warned you.
Fortified by Hades’ wrath, the black blood of the ravaged Calibos flows into the soil, and from it conjures mythical scorpions of gigantic proportions, each hissing with a corrupted sense of menace as they set upon the men. What follows is an epic battle where some fall to their demise while others rise as heroes where it all seems hopeless before a new ally breaks on the horizon.
I’ve always been a sucker for big monsters on screen and while these arachnids aren’t the towering behemoths of say a King Kong or Godzilla – the film is saving its big beast for the end – these scorpions are every reason why a film like this works, tapping into some legit creativity, throwing out logic, and joyfully having fun with the absurd. Admit it, this is what we came for.
The fight is the first real test for Perseus, who has resisted almost violently his god-like genetics, embracing his humanity in his new struggle to upend the reign of those he will not pray to (and also murdered his family). While his body won’t allow him the vulnerabilities of his comrades, he is still nonetheless fallible and it is here where he earns the trust of Draco and those at his call.
The entire sequence is designed to demonstrate the will and commitment of Perseus, even against what appears unwinnable odds, Sure, we know this isn’t a real threat, but the point is in establishing Perseus as a warrior for his cause, that he will not betray those beside him, and that no force from the gods will stop him in his journey to defeat them. But hey, all that aside, it’s just a lot of fun to watch big scary scorpions slash and flail about, wrecking some dudes while getting tore up by others. If you’re gonna die in a Greek myth, might as well be by the pointy end of a giant scorpion’s stinger thingy.
HEADING FOR THE CREDITS: While by no means a great movie, Clash of the Titans doesn’t seem to be aiming all that high, instead gathering some real talent together in delivering a straightforward adventure. That’s a little disappointing, especially when it seems the studio clearly wasn’t going to take any risks. And because so, by its end, there is a decided artificiality to it that leaves it lacking the punch it feels hopeful in building, the finale a well-executed CGI-infused set-piece that looks great but is paper thin. Still, I’ve watched this three times and can’t deny that it’s a lot of fun, the hammy exuberant performances and showy action a good fit for fans of such.