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Clash of the Titans [Blu-ray]

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Never mind that Clash of the Titans play fast and loose with the mythological story of Perseus. Never mind that Medusa wasn't a Titan. Never mind that the Kraken is from Scandinavian mythology, and that casting Lawrence Olivier as Zeus in the 1981 version was sort of typecasting.

The new Clash of the Titans is a darker, grittier more realistic Bronze age world than the 1981 version, but the story hasn`t changed all that much. The citizens of Argos have become disenchanted with the rule of the Gods. The Gods have caused too much chaos and ruin to their lives so they've decided to take their destinies into their own hands, and destroy the temples and statues of the Gods. In doing so, Perseus'(Sam Worthington) family is killed by a falling statue of Zeus. When Zeus (Liam Neeson) learns of the desecration urged on by Hades (Ralph Fiennes), he decides to destroy the city in four days or they can offer the sacrifice of the King of Argos' daughter Andromeda (Alexa Davalos). In a visit to the throne room of Argos, Hades lets it slip that Perseus is a son of Zeus, a demi-god. Being told of his near divinity, Perseus and a group of soldiers go off on their quest to save the city.

The special effects are great! The monsters look real and the characters realistically interact with them. In 3D the water roiling off the undulating tentacles of the Kraken must look really cool! The problem is they shortchanged the story in favor of the special effects. The story only follows the barest of outlines of the myth. Same with the 1981 version, although it's a little more faithful to the myth. The most glaring lapse is there really isn't any reason for Perseus to save Argos. In the myth his reason to save the city is for the love of Andromeda. In this version he's a stranger to Argos and doesn't fall in love with Andromeda. She's barely a consideration until she's needed to be sacrificed to the Kraken. The only reason he seems to take up the quest is because he's the nearest handy demi-god that can help out. Worthington's Perseus doesn't seem very heroic, there doesn't seem to be any emotional investment in Perseus in either the quest or the surrounding characters. Most of the time he has a stoically sullen, put upon attitude, and this keeps the audience at arms length from the character. He doesn`t seem to embrace the heroic at all. Yes, he kills the monsters, but the tasks he must accomplish like tricking the Stygian witches and figuring out how to survive the encounter with Medusa, he seems to accomplish almost by accident. It seems that Perseus isn't meant to be heroic. he repeatedly says he wants "to do this (the quest) as man, not a God," and he keeps refusing the gifts of the Gods. The message in the myth is for mortals to find the divine, to find the god, the hero within themselves, Perseus' refusal of the gifts of the Gods, is the refusal to find the hero within himself.

The 1981 version, although a bit campy in it's delivery tells the hero's story better. The 2010 version delivers better on the special effects. If such a thing were possible as to merge the strengths of both, you would have a better movie.

DVD Bonus Features: The only bonus features offered with the DVD are deleted scenes.

I bought this movie when we bought our 3D tv last year. Honestly, it wouldn't have been my first choice of 3D movies, but when we bought it, there were only a handful of movies available in 3D, which were mostly documentaries, and of course we had to buy a few movies to properly try out our new toy. So mostly due to lack of other options, we purchased this one.

I am very pleased to say that what I expected to be a movie filled with too much action (I expected mostly fighting and effects with no real plot) was actually fantastic! It's now one of my favorites, especially as I now have it synced onto my iPod and iPad (thank you digital copy!), so I can watch it any time or place I'd like.

The 3D is incredible! The picture and sound are very realistic (on every version of the movie, even DVD). I was very impressed.
However, if you are expecting an "old time" movie theatre 3D, you will not find that here. The 3D in this movie is not where the images jump off the screen and into your face to scare you (which is probably good, because it would definitely distract from the rest of the movie). You will not be waiting for something to reach out and grab you, so if that's what you're looking for, you'd be better finding a movie like Despicable Me. Instead, the 3D is used to improve the quality of the visuals, making you feel as though you are in the room with the characters. It is very realistic. That way, you become even more engaged with the plot.

Definitely NOT a disappointment

I'm usually fairly easy going when it comes to popcorn flicks that serve no real purpose except to exist as breezy, silly fun. I love The Mummy and The Mask of Zorro, Pirates of the Caribbean and Sherlock Holmes, particularly since you can tell the writers, cast and crew have embraced the idea of making a film that has sheer entertainment as its fundamental goal. These types of movies have been around for a long time, not excepting the original Clash of the Titans film. Sometimes you're just in the mood to sit back, turn off your brain, and enjoy the action that unfolds in front of you.

But then there are movies that require an extra amount of brain-power just to understand the convoluted events of the plot, and which leave you feeling frustrated and drained at how little sense it makes. Thus we have the remake of "Clash of the Titans", which is really an excuse for one hundred and six minutes of CGI monsters, with a vague plot, non-existent characterization, and semi-passable fight scenes on the side. Of course, this all may still float your boat, but if you prefer to have some *semblance* of coherence in your popcorn flicks then either stick with the campy fun of the original, or skip it altogether.

As an infant Perseus is found by a fisherman floating in a sea-chest alongside his dead mother, and grows up without any knowledge of his origins: that he's actually the son of the god Zeus. Now an adult, Perseus is witness to the death of his foster father, mother and little sister when a group of soldiers from Argos destroy a statue of Zeus and pay the hefty consequences of hubris. For reasons best known to themselves, human beings have decided that ticking off deities is a really good idea, and the Olympian gods respond with releasing an onslaught of monsters in order to increase the prayers that they need to retain their immortality. Why not just call a summit meeting?

Due to this nonsensical state of affairs, Perseus and a group of interchangeable soldiers who exist only as cannon fodder head out on a mission to kill some monsters, accumulate some weapons, and walk across impressive panning shots of the countryside, which will somehow help them defeat the kraken that Hades, Lord of the Underworld, has promised to unleash on Argos if they do not sacrifice Princess Andromeda within ten days. Joining them is Io, an immortal hottie burdened with the terrible curse of being young and beautiful forever, a character that in the original Greek mythology was turned into a cow, tortured by a gadfly, and had nothing whatsoever to do with Perseus. I suppose these days a female isn't considered a worthy love interest unless she tags along with the boys on their adventure, but she never does much to help and her inclusion renders Andromeda's role largely pointless.

They also pick up an eastern-style character who is called a Djinn but which looks like Pinocchio's deformed brother, and a couple of guys who I think are meant to be the comic relief, except that they never actually tell any jokes.

Throughout the running time, the movie seems to want to make some sort of point about humanity and the gods, but it keeps changing its mind on what exactly this point is. The population of Argos is arrogant and sinful for rejecting the gods; but then the gods are petty and corrupt in their dealings with humanity. Zeus gives Hades permission to "set an example" for those who oppose them, but then tries to help Perseus in his god-defying quest to prevent Hades from destroying Argos. Draco (one of Perseus's mates) demands in one scene that Perseus accept Zeus as his father in order to spare the lives of his men, and in the next he says: "I'll smile when I spit in the face of the gods." Io solemnly tells the men the tragic tale of Medusa, who was raped by Poseidon and then cruelly cursed by Athena, which is followed by a scene in which Perseus pep-talks his men outside her lair by telling them to: "kill this bitch." Perseus rejects his godly heritage (though he doesn't pass on the flying horse, immortal girlfriend or built-in demigod powers) and declares to anyone who'll listen that mortality is superior to godhood, even though there's not much evidence of that.

Despite all the railing against the gods and the rah-rah cheerleading for Team Humankind, the movie ends with an odd reestablishing of the pecking order, in which Zeus and Perseus are reconciled, Hades is sent back to Hades and Io is magically resurrected because.... hey, why not? There's some sort of message here, in which the writers desperately want to tell us something about the nature of humanity and its relationship to gods, if only they could figure out what that message was.

It's been a while since I've watched the original Clash of the Titans, but there's no doubt that it's a superior film to this, even discounting the nostalgia quotient that leaves me with fond memories of its inherent campiness and stop-motion monsters. Not only does it boast finer actors and a more faithful adaptation of the Perseus legend, but it is also nobler in content and theme. There, Perseus was on a heroic quest to save innocent people and win the love of a princess. Here, he's just after vengeance, a far less worthy goal.

Though this remake will undoubtedly be an instant favorite for any 10 to 12 year old boy, they'd be better off getting a slice of cinematic history by watching the last film that featured Ray Harryhausen's stop-action monsters. Speaking of which, there's a throwaway gag in the remake that will have fans of the original film fuming, in which Perseus picks up a mechanical owl and then dismissively chucks it away again. I think it's meant to be a "tribute" of sorts to Harryhausen's Bubo, but it just comes across as mildly insulting.

All of the actors, from Liam Neeson (who seems to be wearing mirror-plated armor) to Ralph Fiennes (once again portraying the much-maligned Hades as a baddie), and Sam Worthington (why does he have a buzz-cut?) to Gemma Artherton (who is always immaculate no matter how dirty her traveling companions get) are on autopilot. I have no doubt they picked up their checks at the doors and scurried onto their next projects without looking back.

If "Clash of the Titans" is not what I would call a good slice of entertainment, it at least will provide plenty of snarky commentary if watched in a group. Perhaps a drinking game could be designed for whenever the mortals complain about the gods and visa versa - though given the writers' insistence on repeating this plot-point at every available opportunity, your liver may not survive the experience.

So with the limited number of 3-D movies out there and wanting to make a purchase other than another animated half-rate movie available on 3-D format, I was hoping to put my expensive investment to something more adult like. With hopes, I purchased "Clash of the Titans" Blu Ray in 3-D. I was really looking forward to the film and being amazed because the two animated movies I have, "Monsters vs Aliens" and "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" are quite enjoyable in 3-D.

As soon as I put "Clash" into the Blu Ray player, I wondered if there was something wrong with my glasses. I changed the batteries on my glasses, tried different pairs of glasses, and even checked to make sure I had the correct disc in the drive. Everything seemed to be working. I even replaced the disc with one "Monsters vs..." just to make sure my TV had not broken down. The result is this: I do not believe that "Clash of the Titans" was even made into a 3-D version. If you are hoping to be amazed with your TV's 3-D display capabilities, you better buy something else. All "Clash" is, is simply a blurred background with no, AND I MEAN NO, 3-D imagery. In fact, I am so disappointed, I plan on returning it (I hope) tomorrow.

Don't get me wrong. I think "Clash.." is a fairly decent movie for entertainment. But if you are looking for 3-D graphics, spend your hard earned cash elsewhere.

When it comes to Ray Harryhausen there is no bigger fan of his work and films. When I heard about this remake I was excited, but after reading many reviews I decided to wait until it came on cable before seeing it. I happened to come across this Blu Ray very cheap and I took a chance. To my surprise, this remake isn't as bad as many have claimed, but does nothing to improve on the original either.

The special effects are a highlight in both versions, but in this film they are used sparingly. You never get a good look at the monsters, only quick cuts and fast motion I assume to hide the cracks in the CGI work? I know the younger generation see Ray Harryhausen's(RH)work as old fashioned or even quaint, but he is one of the pioneers of the craft and has and will continue to inspire generations of film makers long after this remake disappears into obscurity. It was fitting of the makers of this fim to put in a cameo of BoBo the owl as a nod to RH.

The story has been changed, but not for the better, only adding confusion and depriving us of a real hero. In RH's original film the story was more straightforward and even though a little corny at times, it did a better job of keeping the motives of the characters more believable.

Back to the effect as this is really the reason to watch any Harryhausen film remake or not. I'm glad that they kept RH's design for Medusa as is it one of the coolest interpretations of her, even though not accurate by Mythological standards. As far as RH's stop motion work, I really don't think people are aware of the amount of work that RH put into the Medusa sequence in the original. Medusa's snake filled hair, her tail and all body movements are painstakingly done with the upmost finesse and skill. Even more amazing is that the flame lit lair is also something he had to take into consideration. Switching the light reflection frame by frame to make it look like flames flickering. Add in the fact the man was in the twilight of his career at almost 70 years old! It was nothing short of breathing taking in its time and I doubt it could ever be duplicated. If we factor in the money and time allowed to create this and all the other creature effects, it is unbelievable that it was completed. I would have loved to see what he could have done with a budget of the remake!

The Medusa in this film looks very good, but I think there is more tension in the original scene with her slowly stalking her intruders. In fact most of the creatures in this remake serve only as a reminder of how great Harryhausen was at his craft, giving his creatures life and personality. The original film suffers from budget restraints that actually effect the look of the film, as all the prints I've seen of it are dark, grainy and the matte shots stick out like a sore thumb, so naturally this remake looks incredible by comparison.

The original has more creatures and the story is told in a more entertaining way, but the remake has some impressive special effects and a story that is not as corny. If only we could combine the two to make one great film. Clash of the Titans is a solid action adventure film with some nifty effect, but I will watch RH's version far more times than this one.

Like many others, I was a fan of the earlier version of Clash of the Titans. This modern version is plagued by all the same problems that seem to be a part of today's movie making: the makers let the special effects dominate the movie, and dismiss everything else. I loved this movie for the special effects, and it is worth watching, and even owning, just for that alone. The characters, the monsters, the battle scenes, the gods, etc. were all worth the price of admission. My favorite part is that the winged stallion Pegasus is jet black, and has a herd of pure white winged mares. But I would have liked a little more story. Another of the problems this movie has is its' near complete lack of color. Everything is in muted shades of bronze, brown, black, gray and cream. It totally amazes me that today, with fantastic fabrics in every color of the rainbow easily available, no one in Hollywood seems to think to use them. For all the colors this movie has, it might just as well have been filmed in black and white. Not to mention that many of the scenes, like the confrontation with Medusa, are so very dark that it is hard to make out the action. Directors today seem bogged down by "historical accuracy" and "true to life". But this story is not a history lesson, it is a fable. The original Clash of the Titans remembered that it was a fairy tale, used beautiful fabric and bright colors, had characters in it that looked like they bathed, and had bright backgrounds filled with light that let the audience see what was going on. With the modern version, I felt like I should run it through a computer, and add color and light to it. As it is, the heros are brown, the monsters are brown and the backgrounds are brown.

Moreover, the makers of this movie did nothing to tell even a bare bones story. There is no reason in this movie for Perseus to rescue Andromeda, or to risk his life for the city---he is a stranger to the princess, and the people of the city have not exactly been friendly to him. He is imprisoned, tortured and then forced into taking on the quest. He should have taken off the first chance he got. The idea that he has some vague idea of getting back at the gods is not sufficient.

This movie is worth watching, with fantastic special effects, but I would have loved to see how much better it could have been with bright colors, more light and a better story.

Nearly 30 years after the original "Clash of the Titans" graced the silver screen, Hollywood has chosen to resurrect the gods of Greek mythology under the direction of action director Louis Letterier ("The Incredible Hulk").

"Clash of the Titans" follows a man named Perseus (Sam Worthington), who unbeknownst to him is the son of Zeus (Liam Neeson), as he travels in search of taking vengeance upon the dark god Hades (Ralph Fiennes). To complete his quest, Perseus will join forces with a group of warriors to face off against some of the fiercest creatures imaginable and prove that even a god can bleed.

With technology at a point where these legendary figures and monsters can look more realistic, awe-inspiring and/or terrifying than ever before, now seems like a fitting time to revisit this classic tale. Yet, with all of the visual spectacle on display and a director known for fast-paced, adrenaline pumping features, does this newest iteration live up to its obviously dated predecessor?

The answer...surprisingly, is no! For all of its visual panache those responsible for this film were far too preoccupied with wowing audiences with as much spectacle in under two hours as possible that the story got lost right from the start.

What little story there is, which by the way merely exists for the sole purpose of carrying the various characters and the audience from one fight to another, is written by the writing duo of Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (the writers responsible for the utterly lackluster "Aeon Flux"). This paper-thin imitation of a screenplay is an insult to not only fans of the original film hoping for a modern day update with terrific storytelling and awesome visuals, but to the enduring myths that spawned these legendary characters in the first place.

How exactly is this film's story insulting? Well, let's start with the biggest part of the film, which is the human story. This aspect of the story is rushed along at an incredibly fast pace, which somewhat works to the film's advantage in that the audience doesn't really have time to see its faults. Yet, at the same time it's detrimental in that one never really gets a sense as to why we should even remotely care for the people on screen. There is next to nothing in terms of character development, both on Earth and on Olympus, and the various character motivations are so weak that I never once believed any of them would actually go to such great lengths to succeed in their mission.

When a movie deals with such otherworldly themes, it is vital that the human element be presented as strongly as possible to ground the movie in some semblance of a reality. Not to mention allow for the audience to connect with the various characters so we can actually become enthralled by their journey. This aspect is never given time to develop and as a result there is zero emotional investment, leaving the audience numb to the experience.

Another major issue facing this film's plot is that the gods themselves are ancillary characters that receive only marginal screen time. The original (if memory serves) featured numerous sequences focusing solely on the gods of Olympus overseeing us mere mortals on Earth. Due to the merely passing glimpses we receive of the gods, we're left with the main crux driving the godly portion of the story being relegated to the opening 90 seconds of the film.

This approach to exposition is fine when handling a remake of a film only a few years old where audiences don't need a lot of rehash (i.e. Louis Letterier's remake/reboot of 2003's "Hulk" with 2008's "The Incredible Hulk"); however, this is not the method to use for the redo of a nearly 30-year old property where a good old fashioned refresher course is warranted.

Fans of these classic tales want more depth, and the Greek myths demand more substance to coincide with all of the flash that modern day visual effects houses can provide. The stories surrounding these legendary figures should not be mentioned only in passing, I mean the story elements at your disposal could have sustained a two to three hour Hollywood epic (which is what this film should have been all along).

Not to mention we receive nary a glimpse at any of the gods' powers in use, an aspect I thought would possibly run the risk of being over-used instead of little to none. Aside from the releasing of the infamous Kraken (as was so heavily touted in the myriad of trailers for this film) only Medusa and Hades are given time to display some of their abilities.

Come on Louis, you skimmed over the mythological history of these characters, the least you could have delivered to us is a smorgasbord of their powers and abilities on display throughout. Seriously, how great would it have been to see Zeus unleashed or Poseidon or (insert your choice here). What were you thinking not going crazy with some massive display of power from the inhabitants of Olympus? Something like that seems like it would be a visual effects wizard's dream come true. But I digress.

While on the topic of the film's visuals, the various effects houses in charge of bringing these elements to life produced a surprisingly mixed bag of results. For the most part, the visuals are quite impressive, some even borderline stunning, while others look too obvious or even cartoonish in nature. Personally, despite some weak spots, I enjoyed the updated visuals that are featured in this incarnation over those of Ray Harryhausen from the original, simply because most look so much more life-like and realistic than anything that stop-motion animation could ever even dream of achieving.

One particular segment that I found to be well done was the giant scorpion fights (another sequence that was heavily shown in the previews). This long fight scene was visually impressive and generally entertaining; although, maybe we could have shortened that sequence by a couple of minutes to make room for showcasing some of the other gods' powers.

It really is a shame that instead of capitalizing on the technology at their fingertips to create awesome visuals worthy of the Greek myths, we're left with gods who simply stood around and talked all day long. Not to mention, an overly long giant scorpion fight that became far too repetitive before it finally came to a close.

Now, I must turn my disappointment towards the cast of this forgettable remake. Headlining the cast, despite his limited acting range and number of roles under his belt, is the ever stoic Sam Worthington. As Perseus, Sam is basically asked to combine the strongest, athletic, and action-oriented parts of his previous notable roles from "Terminator: Salvation" and "Avatar" and channel them into this character. Even with his limited talent pool in terms of dramatic acting, I will say that Sam at least put forth an effort in his previous performances; however, in this film his acting is on action movie autopilot.

This time around the only facial expressions Sam displays are anger, a few moments of laughter, and poorly conveyed sadness; of course, I can't forget, the look that comprised the majority of his screen time, namely his go-to expression...the stern, blank stare. As for the other facets of his performance, his line readings were as bland and wooden as ever, although in his defense, it didn't appear that the script really called for much more effort. Beyond those two sub-par aspects of his performance, not surprisingly Sam delivered on the action-oriented side of the role. While he won't be nominated for any Academy Awards for his "dramatic" work on this film, Sam should be a guaranteed nominee for the MTV Movie Awards' "Best Action Star" award.

In the primary supporting roles are three extremely talented actors, Liam Neeson ("Taken"), Ralph Fiennes ("Harry Potter" films), and the man who portrayed one of the best James Bond villains in quite some time, Mads Mikkelson ("007: Casino Royale"). Personally, I'm extremely disappointed in Liam and Ralph for even taking part in this film. Because at this point in their careers they have enough clout in Hollywood (not to mention money) that they could have either demanded a better script (one with dare I say...character development) or just walked away in order to save face. As for Mads, well he probably doesn't have the clout or as much money, so his participation could be better understood.

Still, all of the above actors possess acting talent far superior to what they put on display in this film. Truth be told though, it was their involvement in this movie that gave the proceedings some credibility, albeit ever so slightly.

One last bit of gripes about the cast. The two prominent female roles in this film were either completely thankless (Gemma Arterton's role of Io) or nothing more than a plot device (Alexa Davalos as Andromeda). Both actresses have shown considerable acting chops in previous work, yet as with everyone else in this film, there's nothing worthy of note in their performances here.

The only thing I can figure for why these actors and actresses signed on to this movie was the chance to be a part of a burgeoning Hollywood franchise. Now, that statement does not apply to Sam Worthington. I believe that for him any chance to play a role that calls for little to no emotion is an opportunity that he's going to jump at with gusto. But, for the others, that's the only excuse I can come up with. At least the temptation of a franchise is something I can understand; if it turns out to be anything else, then they should all be ashamed.

Sadly, despite all of this film's potential to become an incredible epic blockbuster, all that those involved in the project managed to cultivate was just another silly summer popcorn movie. Granted, I have enjoyed many a silly summer popcorn movie, but this one wasn't even all that entertaining.

Despite my obvious disdain for this remake, the movie managed to make plenty of money. So, the powers-that-be are moving full-steam ahead on a second installment. Hopefully, they'll correct some of the glaring mistakes from this opening chapter, and make a movie truly worthy of the mythological characters inhabiting this series' universe.

"Clash of the Titans" is rated PG-13 for violence and brief language.

The plot is a bit more than thin in CLASH OF THE TITANS. The 'heroes' are petty, and pouting, and the 'gods' are only interesting because of the actors that are portraying them ( especially Fienes as Hades ). However, the CGI is great, and the only time it's not fun to watch is when the majority of the characters are opening their mouths instead of hacking at monsters. Anyone that seriously anticipated that this remake of the less-than-classic 1981 fantasy of the same name would be anything other than an action-packed, visually pleasing head-rush of a popcorn pic will be seriously disappointed. If you're looking for accuracy in a mythological context, or acting on a par with Tracey, or March in INHERIT THE WIND you won't be happy either.

This is basically an action movie drawing on ancient Greek mythology. In that regard, it's interesting that Zeus created the human race, and yet he depends on human worship for his immortality while being unable to force humans to worship. Why this dependency? On top of that, his demigod son Perseus prefers to live as a mortal human, even though he has the choice of living as an immortal god ...

Anyway, the movie is reasonably entertaining, though the action isn't enough to increase your heart rate much, if at all. The special effects and scenery are good though, again, not best in class. And the acting is likewise decent, with some well-known actors in the movie, though they don't have much to work with in terms of story or characters. In short, not a total waste of time, but certainly not a movie I'd want to watch again.

Last but not least, my wife picked this out as a "family" movie, but be forewarned that the level of violence is probably too much for young children (hence the PG-13 rating).

I had big hopes for this movie in 3D. I really thought that with all the animation in this film that they would be able to create some stellar 3D effects. As it happenes, it was not all that different from watching it in 2D. I was very disappointed and suggest you skip this one.