Film The Wrath of the Titans (Because I forgot about the Clash....)
To Start off, I'd like to say I only put this up because I saw too many "negative" reviews in my opinion.
The Wrath of the titans, now.. I watched this just about a day before making this review. Having forgot everything about Clash of the titans I still think it was an all-right movie. It neither tugged at me to want to make a cult around nor did it give me any reasons to hate it. It was action, then more action, some talking, then more action. The action could of been a little more appetizing to my tastes, but it was satisfying. Some shots were a little off in that I wanted to view more details in armors and various other points, losing a chance at an Atlantis-like feel. In general, it was poor in a lot of areas or needed improvements.
BUT, it has a saving throw in my opinion. When I sat down to watch it, I didn't expect a realistic depiction of mythological events, God of War, or a thrilling movie with a plotted out system. No, I expected a man to fight things until they are dead, and dead they are. The visuals were grand and amazing. It was like a roller-coaster. You don't get on Splash Mountain to hear bears sing... you go on for the splash and the thrill.
IN general 6/10 in my book. I enjoyed it.
Film Facepalm of the Titans
I saw the Clash remake in theatres, which was a waste of money considering I'd already bought a copy when it was a video game called God Of War. It gave me a greater appreciation for Mads Mikkelsen, and not a lot else. When I discovered Wrath was going to exist, I didn't even bother that far, since I knew what to expect.
The first problem with these silly remakes is that they try to cram in a video game's worth of plot and content into a two-hour movie. The result is very, very rushed. Monsters and characters drop in like contractually-obligated cameos, and to save time on exposition the movies assume you are familiar with Classical Mythology—even though their take on the characters is Not As You Know Them, starting with Everyone Hates Hades and going from there. (An Achaean princess not knowing who Hephaestus is? Come on.) The Not Even Bothering With The Accent is jarring, though given that Greece was nowhere near united at the time, perhaps it oughtn't be. And the gods only know about the costuming—evidently those leather jerkins are straight out of The Middle Ages.
The second problem is that, as per usual with action films, there is nothing pulling on your heartstrings. In God of War we an interesting Anti Hero to distract us from some of the best gameplay in the history of the medium (win-win). In this franchise we just have... well, sidekicks fair better; Mikkelsen is a breath of fresh air in the first movie, and Toby Kebbell keeps the jokes going in the second. But it just isn't enough, especially when there's no development or exploration. Ralph Fiennes hams it up because that's what he does; in the second film, Edgar Ramirez (Ares) joins him. Perseus, stoic-faced as always, battles on because the writer threw a Doomed Hometown at him; there's no heart, no psychology, no motivation. Emotional investment is created by characterization, and a film that lacks the latter will, by definition, lack the former. These films prove it.
And Bill Nighy as Hephaestus? Look, I love the man, but if you can't find a character that suits him, maybe you shouldn't put him in the film. Especially after Rip Torn's performance.
So, my verdict? Play God of War. Yeah, the play controls are harder than "put ass in seat," but it's a better movie than these. And it's not even a movie.
Film A Failure of Mythological Proportions
Firstly, I am not an in-depth anylyzer, like most people who just want to watch a movie are, so I'm going to be quick and speak like a casual viewer. Secondly, Clash of the Titans really isn't all that bad a movie on its own, however it isn't great either. If you know anything, and I mean ANYTHING, about Greek mythology, this movie will make you question the intelligence of the people behind it and make it harder to enjoy. I am a Greek myth buff and was so annoyed I had to stop paying attention at points and just see it as pictures and dialog without actually thinking about them to be able to make it all the way through. The kraken scene is especially painful with anyone with any passing knowledge of the beast. T He characters aren't even all that likable in my opinion, they don't have much development past Perseus hating the gods, Hades being a jerk, and Io being in love with Perseus, while most of the characters are rather forgetable. That is literally all I picked up as a casual viewer.
Also, they had Hades as evil, which is a pet peeve. There also was not a single Titan in the whole movie, gods and monsters being treated as Titans which, again, a passing little bit of knowledge would tell you is wrong.
The action was kinda good, but not all that whelming. Many other movies have done much better. While the number may be lower that involve Greek mythology, well this movie is pretty in name only so it is still outdone. The animation was pretty good, and while I did not se it in 3D I doubt I missed much (Side-note: Shoehorned 3D sucks). However, these are very few good things, and this type of movie has been done to many times for some slight good things to count for much.
Overall: Enjoyable, but easily outclassed if you do not know anything about Greek mythology. If you only know a bit or plain don't care, still not the best movie but you may like it. If you actually like Greek myths, never watch this movie or constantly have an MST 3 K Mantra going the whole time and try to just not think. 6.5/10 Unbiased stars, but only 2/10 Gods approve.
Film 2010 Film Missed a good Aesop
Considering this was a kids movie, I think there was a missed opportunity for a serviceable Aesop about how Pride can hurt anyone.
On the godly front, the Olympians are Jerkass Gods that depend on the worship of humans. Their Pride comes from expecting, no, demanding to be loved in spite of all the horrible, horrible things they do.
On the mortal front, queen Cassiopea neatly represented how man taking the gods' place is both arrogant and dangerous *. If the Argonians had been diplomatic with the gods by praying something like "Hey, we realize you made us, and we're really grateful for that. But if you don't stop messing with us for no reason we will starve you." they'd have kept the moral high ground.
Perseus himself gets dangerously close to this by denying his godly heritage and gifts for what is essentially vanity (another form of pride). He won't use them because he hates the gods, and because he wants to be able to say "A man did this". The point of the "war" wasn't militant atheism over Jerkass Gods, but the evils of misused power. In his case, ignoring them. It's only by using the sword and all of his strength to fight Kalibos and later Hades that he succeeds.
Where the movie fails to nail this Aesop down is by having Zeus, Perseus and the humans fail to reflect on this. Though it didn't call for a long Patrick Stewart Speech, a few words on it by either Perseus or Zeus would have sufficed. Instead, Zeus briskly ends by glibly advising Perseus to "treat them better than we did". This is Zeus were talking about; the guy basically caused all the turmoil in the movie by allowing his pantheon to kick around mortals and tricking Hades into hell. Yet he escapes any kind of real retribution or true epiphany and stays a Karma Houdini.
Film Pure Dumb Hellenistic Fun
I confess myself not to be a tabletop gamer: I've never played a game of D&D, Planescape or otherwise in my life. My sister does though, and hearing some of the stories she's told me of the over-the-top cheesy fun of some of her sessions, I was struck with a distinct sense of deja vu.
Clash of the Titans 2010 won't win any awards for originality, scriptwriting, etc. But it's fun. It's like watching a homebrew Greek Mythology tabletop game play out with special effects and half-decent actors. Going in with that mindset makes watching the movie an entertaining experience: the realization that Clash isn't trying to tell a solemn Greek tragedy, but show Sam Worthington fight giant CGI scorpions on a high-spirited adventure to kill a giant monster and save the city.