"There is a god in you. Be sure to bring it. End of lesson".

Rating: 7/10 (21 May 2011)

Well it's 6:30 PM on May 21st, 2011 and the world hasn't ended as predicted by Family Radio Evangelical preacher Harold Camping. Quite coincidentally, Argos is still standing too, as the Kraken unleashed by the underworld god Hades failed to destroy the city. I'm not sure how the legend of Medusa's gaze turning humans to stone translates to evil sea monsters, but I'll go with it. After all, Perseus and his fellow travelers went to a lot of trouble to put that head in a duffel bag. Oh wait, different movie.
Actually, while I like to pan certain films with a bit of levity, I didn't think this one was too bad. It's been some time since I saw the original Harry Hamlin version, but catching this one today gives me some incentive to get hold of it for the sake of comparison. I do recall some of the cheesy effects from two decades ago, but that had to do with the available technology. The CGI involved here is pretty skillful, the one that caught my interest the most was the aforesaid Medusa with that slither thing going on. The Kraken sequence was pretty amazing too, but gee, wasn't the monster defeated just a little too easily? Perseus (Sam Worthington) didn't have to do much more than stretch his arm out to make the save for Andromeda (Alexa Davalos). Takes some of the fun out of being the hero.
Except for the drawing power of actors Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson, I didn't see much reason for them to be in this one. Their characters are fairly one dimensional considering they were Greek gods after all. I got a kick out of some of the dialog, like the line in my summary above from Perseus's fight instructor Draco (Mads Millelsen). That and the occasional lapses into British accent, especially by Worthington.
Now you're going to hate me for this one, but I just can't help it. When Perseus' guardian Io (Gemma Arterton) was killed by Calibos (Jason Flemyng) and dematerialized into the heavens, I was pretty certain she wasn't gone for good. Sure enough, Zeus (Neeson) makes amends with his demigod son by bringing her back to life to close out the picture. For Perseus, it had to feel like cashing in an IO-U.