Escape to the Movies: Clash of the Titans

[MortisLegio]

Great review Bob

havent seen it yet but Im betting the first one is much better

 

[RAMBO22]

Don't see this movie guys, in my opinion it's very poor. Clash is essentially an over-budgeted, special effects driven mythological wreck with a predictable story and anti-climactic ending.

 

[dehawaiiansupaman]

I was already planning on seeing this but didn't know whether to pony up for the 3D or not. I'll probably end up seeing in 2D now and save some money. Great Review.

 

[2xDouble]

I was expecting a comparison to God of War, but I digress.

As for your views on Greek Drama, Bob, I have to disagree. Destiny is always a nice stand-in for the Gods or God when a man is not controlled by his own will. After all, Hamlet spent half the play debating whether it was his place to enact vengeance or God's, and if he really had any free will in the matter. The Star Wars series has a very strong destiny theme running and if Georgie would've worked it well, Revenge of the Sith would've been a compelling look at how destiny can also work for evil.

It's not so much that the idea of one man's will being subject to a higher power CAN'T work in modern-day cinema, it's just all in how you work it.

I agree, my impressions of this movie are essentially "God of War 2, the movie". Which, ironically enough, borrowed heavily from Clash of the Titans

Spoiler

even having the original model of Perseus in the original final scene of the movie as a boss encounter showing direct parallels between Kratos and Perseus.

I also agree that it is not directly the fault of the material (in some cases), and that it is the Director's problems handling thematic Greek issues in modern society.

However, I agree with Bob in that a large majority of these Greek stories are fairly dry, one-dimensional, and ridiculously convenient in a "Will of the Force" kind of way (see what I did there? ha!). They were written as morality plays, designed explain something that happens, or reinforce why things are done certain ways on certain days (or whatever). While individually they may be excellent short stories, they really don't translate well into feature-length movies; there just isn't enough there.

 

[scott91575]

I actually just finished writing an article for my school newsletter about Greek mythology and cinema, and you touched upon some interesting points. Mainly, that modern filmmakers don't really seem to understand the dynamic between humans and the gods. The Greeks were, for the most part, a humanist culture, and their gods, with their human drama, flaws, and such, reflected that. Sure, the gods controlled the fates of men, but it was a relaxed and fundamentally intimate relationship, for the sole reason that the Greek gods could be comprehended to a degree.

As opposed to the obtuse, vague, and distant motivation behind saving a dude and the animals in a big boat, completely destroying a regular, faithful guy's life, commanding a chap to ritually sacrifice his own son, smiting a bloke for coitus interruptus, and sentencing your own son to unimaginable torture, humiliation, anguish, and death for the sake of a somewhat mediocre species.

Hollywood shouldn't try to resist and/or reinvent the dynamic, they should be embracing and re-exploring it.

Wow, that is the most simplistic breakdown of the stories in the Bible that I have ever read. I am not the biggest fan of the Judeo-Christian Bible, but you really missed the point.

I could break down Greek Mythology into much worse.

 

[Quad08]

I saw it yesterday and would like to say whoever though of sticking the 3D element in the movie was an idiot. The movie was perfectly entertaining without the the 3D and if anything, it made everything in the movie a darker shade.

Everything else was excellent. Good action, good effects and good times. See it in 2D and I guarantee a better experience

 

[Aptspire]

meh...I find myself shunning the Hollywood movies of today more and more... maybe it is because of the massive wave of remakes???

 

[Stabby Joe]

First off let me just say MovieBob, I love the fact you even mentioned other Harryhausen films and yes Jason and the Argonauts and the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad are his best!

I first watch the original Clash of the Titans in the 90s and still love it so the 80s nostalgia argument doesn't hold up against my view personally.

I have yet to see this remake and regardless of the sad mindset I've picked up after browing Rotten Tomatoes, I'll probably still go see it.

 

[ChantoriaDemona]

I thought it was pretty good action movie. Though my main problem is that I actually study greek mythology so I noticed every inaccuracy, I don't even think hollywood was trying to go for accuracy. So as long as you don't know greek myth that well and your looking for lots of action, it's not that bad of a movie.

 

[Wounded Melody]

I loved the original even in all its cheesiness and wish they didn't remake it

 

[addeB]

Why are they making everything in 3D suddenly? 3D have been around for years and now in 2010 they start to use it? Almost all new movies are in 3D now and Nvidia makes a 3D graphic card? (batman arkham asylum GOTY are also in 3D right?)

 

[Sylveria]

I just got back from it. It's alright, C+ is certainly a fitting score. It definitely needed to be longer. It feels really rushed. If this was a 2.5-3hrs movie and was allowed to develop more and have some longer action, it would be really good. I never knew the Perseus story to well and the original was a long way back for me, so the inconsistencies didn't bother me much. Its mainly suffers from being short. I imagine a directors cut DVD will come out eventually and it will be much better than the theatrical release, which is quite sad.

 

[MaraJade03]

Good review! I've been looking forward to seeing this movie. I am glad you generally liked it. Glad I'm not missing much if I don't watch it in 3D. The 3D hurts my eyes after 20 minutes or so, same with my friend. So Yea Good Review and definitely going to see this movie.

 

[Jaebird]

I'd completely forgotten this movie came out today. It's nice to know that they did an good enough job at remaking the movie. As much as I'm looking forward to it, I will wait until Sunday or Monday to go see it, so as to avoid big, loud and annoying crowds.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

I actually just finished writing an article for my school newsletter about Greek mythology and cinema, and you touched upon some interesting points. Mainly, that modern filmmakers don't really seem to understand the dynamic between humans and the gods. The Greeks were, for the most part, a humanist culture, and their gods, with their human drama, flaws, and such, reflected that. Sure, the gods controlled the fates of men, but it was a relaxed and fundamentally intimate relationship, for the sole reason that the Greek gods could be comprehended to a degree.

As opposed to the obtuse, vague, and distant motivation behind saving a dude and the animals in a big boat, completely destroying a regular, faithful guy's life, commanding a chap to ritually sacrifice his own son, smiting a bloke for coitus interruptus, and sentencing your own son to unimaginable torture, humiliation, anguish, and death for the sake of a somewhat mediocre species.

Hollywood shouldn't try to resist and/or reinvent the dynamic, they should be embracing and re-exploring it.

Wow, that is the most simplistic breakdown of the stories in the Bible that I have ever read. I am not the biggest fan of the Judeo-Christian Bible, but you really missed the point.

I could break down Greek Mythology into much worse.

The Greek gods do things because they are feeling angry or jealous or spiteful, or on the other side of the coin because they're in love, or happy, or entranced. Human motives, in other words. The Judeo-Christian god is pretty hard to understand. If he's acting on human emotions and impulses, like the Greek gods, then by all accounts he' kind of a jerk. If he's not acting on such impulses, then he's harder to understand, alien somehow. That's what happens when you say your god is all-loving and that every disaster is just him being kind

 

[Cosplay Horatio]

I may have a chance to see it while I'm on vacation for the weekend but since it's a C+ movie It'll really be a last resort choice if nothing else is good. I'm sure next weeks review will be about Kick Ass and if that's true then I'm definitely looking forward to the review a movie both my wife and I definitely want to see.

 

[Abedeus]

You can't really say that he's THE illegitimate son of Zues, since Zues' police was basically to impregnate just about anything that moved (more often than not, looking something other than himself).
Also, I didn't actually expect this to be good from the trailers (to me it looked like it was going to be 90% action and 10% weak story), but it looks like it could actually serve as a popcorn flick.

Zeus.

And he did have... like... one child from his marriage? Others were heroes, but with mortal women.

OT: I was wary of this movie, since it seemed like another "yaaawn 3D...", but if it has a lot of action, cool monsters and action with cool monsters and more action, I might as well see it.

 

[Axolotl]

Personally I lost all intereset in it after I found out they weren't using stop motion. I mean seriously WTF is wrong with them?

 

[FinalHeart95]

Saw it earlier today. Horrible acting, but the Kraken looked incredible. It was a decent movie.

I may end up going to see it later actually, as some of my friends are going.

 

[Monkey King]

Just a little tid bit about the movie: a guy I work with said that it's good that they remade this film, because the "CGI in the original was so weak!"
I didn't know if I should laugh, cry, or strike him down!