Clash of the Titans Gets a C+

I was under the impression that the only reason someone would re-make a movie or story line that had been made previously was because they felt as if they could improve upon what had been done before. So, when I heard about a re-telling of Clash of the Titans, I assumed that they were going to put a new spin on it and try to improve upon the thirty year old classic. I mean, given all that they can do now-a-days in visual effects, the idea of an incredibly realistic Medusa and Kraken is exciting and should be awesome, right???

I am a huge fan of the original Clash of the Titans. It might be because of my age at the time it came out, 6, and the fact that it really was a great film to spark the imagination of a kid. Also, the visual effects at the time were quite effective and it showed Ray Harryhausen’s work at its best. When I heard a retelling of this classic was in the works, I thought that this was one story that could use a nice upgrade. Granted, the cast was pretty top-notch, and the effects were cool for its time, but it was going to be interesting to see the Greek mythological world updated with today visual effects. Now that I have seen it, I can say that while it was entertaining enough and had some cool scenes, the film overall paled in comparison with the original and had a climax that was less than satisfying.

I’m sure most of you know the basic story is about Perseus, the mortal son of Zeus, who denies his birthright of becoming a god himself to live among the mortals. He is raised by a fisherman and his family and who raises him as their own. The family is then killed by Hades as a war erupts between the gods and humanity. Perseus then seeks vengeance for the death of his family and goes on a quest to defeat the Kraken, Hades’ pet monster, and in turn overthrow Hades’ attempt to overtake Zeus as the supreme god of them all. Granted, this is fairly different from the original story line as Hades was not in the movie what so ever and Perseus wanted to defeat the Kraken in order to save his love Andromeda.

One thing that I did like more about this film is that the story of the gods themselves is told including the back story of Io, Medusa, Poseidon, Zeus and Hades. They also do a very good job of building up to the climactic battle with the Kraken. The big problem I had with the film is the fact that they build up to the final battle goes on for a good hour and forty five minutes, then when the Kraken appears on the screen, the battle lasts all of five minutes. Why have such a build up to the end of the movie only to make it shorter than other sequences in the film? Also, why even have Hades in this version but not have he and Zeus battle it out with one another?

All in all, I would recommend this film to anyone that enjoyed the original. In fact, some people may even like this one more. I however have very fond memories of the original and this version did nothing to overtake the first film in my heart. I did not see the 3D version as I heard a great many complaints about how terrible the conversion was. How about you guys? Anyone out there see it in 3D? What did you think? Let me know!!

C+