Clash of the Titans (2010): C-

Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans may be a re-do of the beloved 1981 Ray Harryhausen fantasy saga, but in its thudding rock soundtrack, its grim, bloody vision of ancient Greece, and its horror-movie-monstrous mythological beasts, the template the film really follows is that of the Playstation’s God of War franchise. In said comparison, this would-be blockbuster comes out looking downright woeful, paralleling the video game series’ nominal narrative concerns – namely, a hero’s quest to exact vengeance on, and thus end the rule of, Mount Olympus’ deities – and yet lacking not only its aesthetic originality but also its fiery, all-consuming sense of rage, anguish and bloodlust. Chalk that up at least partially to a protagonist, Perseus, who’s been sketchily conceived and is embodied with titanic blandness by Sam Worthington, now firmly established (after similar turns in Terminator Salvation and Avatar) as action cinema’s preeminent bore. As in Harryhausen’s Clash, Perseus must defeat a series of colossal adversaries, though here his prime goal is to reach Olympus and slaughter Gods – specifically Zeus (Liam Neeson) and Hades (Ralph Fiennes) – played by slumming thespians. It’s a quest that’s filled out with embarrassing supporting characters (including a wood-faced specter who does little other than comically roar his approval) that Leterrier shoots with visceral vigor if a tad too much blurry-vision cinematography designed to mask some of his CGI’s shoddiness. His over-the-top aesthetics are further sabotaged by 3D (added as a post-production afterthought) that is superfluous to the point of grating, the effects providing no extra depth-of-field but plenty of indistinct fuzziness around the frame’s edges. Yet even more than its technical limitations, and despite the minor cheesy pleasures afforded by its man-vs.-monsters action, Clash is truly undone by the dramatic void at its center, an abyss so wide and deep that even the sight of the gargantuan Kraken generates only indifference.

Comments

[Whodunit?]

Hey Nick---You left Slant eh? No worries--I'll always follow you---hopefully that didn't sound too creepy.

Anyway--Im with you on Worthington being a bore--we need more action heroes like James McAvoy (Wanted)---I like the unassuming hero rather than the brutish dude that feels the need to scream every line of dialogue.

Cheers for the review.

[Nick]

Why would you think I left Slant? I haven't - in fact, my latest review for them just went up last night (for The Last Song).