Dir. Louis Leterrier, 118mins, USA , 2010
Cast: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Mads Mikkelsen
Review by Matthew Rodgers
The historical beast that was the original 1981 Clash of the Titans holds a very special place in the annals of mythological cinema. Not for the teak stained performance of Harry Hamlin or the grandiose posturing of the array of talent embodying the Gods, but because it was the last film to feature the unique thumbprint of the legendary stop motion genius that was Ray Harryhausen, who was then relegated to the archive of antiquated techniques just at the time George Lucas was beginning to play with his flashier toys. And as if to get the point across with one last disdainful/respectful look to the past, Louis Leterrier's re-boot offers up a glimpse of the much loved mechanical owl Bubo, before he is quickly tossed aside like a piece of junk. In doing so, the film takes on a life of its own; a huge sword, sandals, and scorpion's epic that's absolutely Kraken!
Not straying too far from the original, and let's be honest, pretty shonky plot, Clash 2010 finds Demi-God Perseus (Sam Worthington) cast asunder as the bastard child of Zeus (Liam Neeson). Unaware of his heritage and the prophecy that foretells his fate, Perseus must confront a newly resurgent Hades (Ralph Fiennes) before the imminent eclipse releases the mighty Kraken to destroy the brilliantly named Argos . And breathe.
Adhering so closely to the original means that this version shares many of the same haphazard plotting problems. After the stodgy set-up it settles into a Lord of the Rings -esque fight-walk-fight-walk pattern without being afforded the time that those fantasy epics had for character development. Perseus's posse are indistinguishable from one another, most filling the same role that a red-costumed Star Trek extra would.
But grumbles such as this are redundant when you've come to watch what boils down to a monster mash and in that department Clash certainly works.
Apart from the poorly rendered Medusa, at times worryingly reminiscent of the nadir of CGI special effects that was the Scorpion King from The Mummy Returns , every single mythical beast is a marvel. The witches are now featureless murderers straight from a Del Toro sketchbook, and the skeletal ferryman is a thing of twisted beauty with more than a hint of H.R. Giger in design. The grandstanding Kraken also has a hint of colossal unoriginality about him, coming across as the big brother to the Cloverfield monster but this doesn't detract from the sheer “awesomeness” of his spectacle. Pegasus the winged horse also gets a makeover. No longer the last of his breed, this does perhaps remove some of the pathos from his existence, but he is possibly the most subtle and beautiful of the beasts on display.
Their human counterparts certainly play second fiddle. It's hilarious to see the previously demure pairing of Neeson and Fiennes reunited for the first time since Schindler's List . Here they are camping it up as warring Gods and both do their straight faced best to pull off their respective roles. Incidentally, the line-up of Gods also includes Danny Houston as Poseidon but he is criminally given just one single line to utter. Man of the moment Sam Worthington is also surprisingly mute. Given free reign to speak in his native Australian, for the first hour he is simply a narrative vessel used to propel the storyline. It's only when the films superior second half kicks in that he begins to live up to the leading man tag. Maybe a side-step from big budget blockbusters will indicate if he's the real deal. Surprisingly in such a testosterone fuelled film it's Gemma Arterton that steals the show. Sensibly dropping the soft focus romantic aspect of Clash '81 style, she is a strong female character, who's captivating when necessary but also knows how to knuckle down, when it comes to tackling a gigantic scorpion.
Its finally worth noting that although this has been retrospectively converted to 3-D and the posters have been emblazoned with such info to ram the point home, you might be better off saving yourself a couple of quid and watching it in 2-D, as on the numerous times the glasses slid off the bridge of the nose, little dimensional difference was revealed beyond the occasional depth of field.
What they couldn't disguise was the fact that Clash of the Titans is rumbustious, rubbishy, ridiculous filmmaking at its most over-the-top best.
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