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Film: Clash of the Titans
Year: 2010
Director: Louis Leterrier
Writer: Travis Beacham, Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi
Starring: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes
Review:
This film begins with giving the history of what has happened so far. It tells of the Gods of Olympus and how they overthrew their parents, the Titans. We learn that they were led by Zeus as well as his brothers Poseidon and Hades. Hades actually created a monster called the Kraken to help him and the other gods. It is unstoppable.
We then shift to where a fisherman played by Pete Postlethwaite finds a floating box. He brings it aboard his ship and finds there is a woman with a baby inside. The woman is dead, but his wife and he decide they will raise the baby as their own. This baby is Perseus. When Postelthwaite’s wife becomes pregnant, he convinces young Perseus that they will still love him no matter what.
The film moves 12 years into the future and Perseus is played by Sam Worthington. The ship is a family operation with his father, mother and sister. They are struggling to find fish and end up stumbling upon the city of Argos. As they do, they see a giant statue of Zeus being destroyed and pushed into the water. The water sprays the ship. They are punished almost immediately when winged monsters emerge from the ocean and attack the city. The monsters combine into Hades, who is played by Ralph Fiennes. He attacks Worthington’s ship, killing everyone, but him.
We then shift to Mt. Olympus. Zeus is leading a meeting amongst the other gods; he is played by Liam Neeson. Neeson and the rest of the gods need the people they created to worship them to live forever. Currently, they are against the gods and they are angered by it. Neeson’s brother Fiennes shows up and tells them that man needs to be punished. Fiennes wants to once again release the Kraken. Neeson is irate and decides that he will let his brother unleash it.
The film then shifts back to Argos. Worthington is brought to the city. He is led to the king, who is played by Vincent Regan. His wife is played by Polly Walker and they have a daughter, played by Alexa Davalos. Regan’s people celebrate while Davalos tells them that they need to stop angering the gods. Walker goes too far and states that her daughter is more beautiful than Aphrodite. This is when Fiennes shows up. He kills many soldiers and even fights off Worthington. He realizes during this that Worthington is a demi-god. A strange woman shows up, played by Gemma Arterton, who stops Worthington from getting himself killed. Fiennes kills Walker and tells them that unless Davalos is sacrificed before the eclipse then the Kraken will destroy them.
Fiennes returns to his brother to tell him that there is a demi-god in Argos. Neeson wonders who the man could be, but knows it is his son.
The head soldier for Argos is played by Mads Mikkelsen. He doesn’t trust Worthington as a demi-god. Regan asks him to help save his daughter and his city. Worthington tells them that he is a fisherman and doesn’t know how to use a sword. He is put in a dungeon. He is visited by Arterton who tells him the truth about himself. He is the son of the former king of the city, Jason Flemyng’s wife. Flemyng took the battle to Olympus and to punish him, Neeson made love to his wife. She gave birth to Worthington and she was thrown into the ocean with him in a box. Neeson punished Flemyng by striking him with a lightning bolt. Arterton tells Worthington that if he wants to kill Fiennes, he needs to kill the Kraken. Worthington decides to find a way.
Mikkelsen gathers what soldiers the city still has. This includes an older man, Liam Cunningham, as well as Hans Matheson and Nicholas Hoult. There is a reference to original film with the robotic owl during the scene where they are getting armored up. Mikkelsen also lets Worthington know he doesn’t care for him. Before they leave, they find two monster killers played by Ashraf Barhom and Mouloud Achour. They head for the witches to find a way to stop the Kraken.
As they are leaving, Fiennes meets with Flemyng, who has become part monster himself. Flemyng continues to hate Neeson so he will help Fiennes to kill Worthington.
Worthington is given gifts to help him, but he will not use them. He is given a sword that only he can wield, but he will not use it. He is also finds a black winged horse, Pegasus. Arterton tries to tell him to use the gifts as well as Mikkelsen, but Worthington wants to do this as a man, with no help from the gods.
They end up being attacked by Flemyng, who is fast and strong. He kills some of their members, but ends up getting his hand chopped off. The hand itself and the blood become giant scorpions. They do kill some of them, but they become larger and larger. That is when they meet some desert wizards. Their leader is played by Ian Whyte. They decide to help, because they do not love the gods either for cursing them.
When they finally get to the witches, Worthington has to convince them to help, but when he does he learns what they need to do. Go to the underworld and meet Medusa. The problem is that her gaze turns everything to stone and no one ever leaves her temple. Will they be able to figure out a way to get her to help them? Will they defeat the Kraken? Will they be able to get there and back before it attacks? The citizens are becoming restless and there is a religious fanatic who now worships Fiennes. Will he convince them to kill Davalos to save themselves? Will Worthington forgive Neeson or will bring the gods down as well? Will Worthington get his revenge against Fiennes?
I have to say that I really like Greek Mythology, so a film that brings a myth to life is fun. I also want to say that this film has a lot of good actors in it. I think Worthington is good in these action type films. Neeson is great as Zeus where he does still love man, but he needs to punish them as well. I think Fiennes is also great as a bad guy. I really like Arterton and Flemyng in this film as well. The story is good, but they did take some liberties with the myth and added things that are not in it. I really like the reference to the original as well. The use of computers makes this one visually good looking, the monsters look great and the battle scenes are really solid.
My biggest problem with this is that it gets a little corny. Worthington constantly is against the gods and lets us know. He will not use their help, until he finally realizes that if he wants to save the day, he needs it. I wasn’t a huge fan of some of the changes made to the myth for this, but I also really didn’t want to see a shot for shot remake.
This film is being added to the horror film research due to it having giant monsters. There are also aspects of other giant monster films which would be that the world is going to be destroyed by the gods and by a giant monster.
I would recommend seeing this film if you like Greek mythology, the original or action films where people are fighting giant monsters. I don’t feel this one is as good as the original, but it is still solid. There are good actors in it in decent roles, the story is pretty good and the visuals are solid. The monsters do look quite realistic as well. If this sounds good, I would definitely give it a chance. I think this film is definitely worth a viewing.
My Rating: 6 out of 10