The Clash of the Titans

05/04/2010

Helen Gellion went to see the blockbuster Clash of the Titans

Ralph Fiennes as Hades in Clash of the Titans

Everyone will have a different opinion of the original 1981 film, Clash of the Titans, and looking back it’s obviously dated compared to older films like Star Wars and Alien. Personally, being a small kid in the 80s, I loved it; the creatures were unique, you wanted a flying horse of your own and the medusa sequence was watched from behind a cushion. Seriously it was scary back then! Looking at Louis Letterier’s 2010 remake gives it a modern, grittier feel and keeps true to the main focus of the film - the creatures.

Our hero Perseus (Sam Worthington) is discovered as a baby by Spyros (Pete Postlewaite) in a wooden coffin floating the ocean. Flash-forward to Perseus as a man, happy with his adopted family and living an honest fisherman’s life. One day Perseus and family get caught in an attack by the god of the underworld, Hades (Ralph Fiennes), on a group of soldiers destroying the statue of Zeus. Their ship is sunk and only Perseus survives, being rescued he is taken to the city of Argos - the Greek city, not the shop - and presented to King Cepheus.

Man is tired of the Gods and Queen Cassiopeia foolishly declares man to be better and that their daughter Andromeda (Alexa Davalos) is more beautiful than Aphrodite – big mistake. Hades appears, cursing the city to be attacked by the Kraken unless Andromeda is sacrificed. It’s also realised at this point that Perseus is the son of Zeus and a demigod; as he was unaffected by Hades attack. Perseus then sets on a quest, guided by the mystical Io (Gemma Arterton), to find a way to save Andromeda and the city of Argos – although his own motive is to get to Hades and revenge his family’s death. All the while, Hades is sneakily fuelling the dispute between man and God to usurp Zeus (Liam Neeson) and enlists the disfigured Calibos (Jason Flemyng) to stop Perseus’ quest.

Natalia Vodianova as Medusa in Clash of the Titans

It’s your standard big budget blockbuster movie and the special effects are amazing, as is to be expected. Letterier, whose previous films being Transporter 1&2 and Unleashed, can handle the action and stays faithful to the original Ray Harryhausen creatures, yet breathes new life into them with a CGI makeover. However, the sequences in-between seem hollow, only really moving you to the next action sequence and special effects. One nice touch was most of the beautiful locations are real, shot in places like Wales, Ethiopia and Iceland.

Sam Worthington, the man of the moment in the movie world, gives our hero an extra dimension and another appealing performance, as Perseus reluctantly takes on the role as hero and struggles to accept his godlike powers yet still wanting to do things as a man. Mads Mikkelsen’s take as Draco, the loyal veteran head-soldier, who is sceptical of Perseus whilst trying to encourage him, is also interesting. Other characters like Andromeda and Calibos were engaging but underused.

Sam Worthington & Liam Neeson as Perseus and Zeus in Clash of the Titans

One mistake that was made was the revealing of the Kraken in the trailers. The build up and introduction of the Kraken as it breaches the city is marvellously done but the first emergence of its head and bellowing roar I’d already witnessed on the trailer – so the impact was a little lost on me. If you haven’t seen the trailer don’t watch it!

Putting my personal nostalgic memories for the original movie aside, for big movie entertainment Clash of the Titans provides the big creatures and fast action. If this is what you want then you won’t be disappointed. However, I wanted to see a darker and more atmospheric take on Greek mythology that would also allow time to flesh out the dialogue and depth of characters between action sequences and that is not visible in this film.

Clash of the Titans official website