Confusing from the start to finish

Rating: 4/10 (19 April 2010)

It seems like 2010 is the year when Greek mythology suddenly becomes the trendy thing. I have seen Percy and the Olympians, and now I Have seen The Clash of the Titans. Both are loosely based on Greek mythology - and both of them leaves most of the audience confused.
The Clash of the Titans is a very expensive, and pretty movie. The CGI is impressive, and the actions are ceaseless from the start to the end.
I haven't watched the 1981 version; or read the Greek version of the myth. So I will not judge the movie based on how much or how little they deviate from the "Classic" It should be a simple and standard story - boy come from humble beginning (son of a fisherman); boy face a great challenge (defeating a kraken); boy goes to a journey with his trusted friends (from the city of Argos to the underworld and back); boy wins; boy gets the girl (Princess Andromeda).
But somehow it gets confused.
The main story of the movie is how the Gods are evil Tyrants and one human king after another are rising against their Tyranny and failed. But then the script does not (or could not) enforce this story.
The Greek Gods are neither all bad or all good. They, like human, have their flaws and strengths, kindness and cruelty. They like human, abuse their power from time to time, but also protect the human from time to time. The script can not turn these traditional Gods into the Sith Masters or Hanibal Lecters.
Then, Perseus is hardly a Jedi Knight either. Repeatedly throughout the movie he said how he "will defeat the Gods as a man", yet in the end cave in and use his dad's sword, gold coin and horse. This is predictable since the idea of "fighting Gods as a man" seems to be as effective as moths trying to extinguish a fire. Perseus is hardly strong enough to take a scorpion on his own, let alone the God of the Underworld.
The supporting characters seems to exist just to die against one monster or another - so the producer did not even bother creating real distinct characters between one soon to be dying soldier to the next.
This should be a simple story of a Hero's journey. In the end , I'm just confused as who the hero is. I'm guessing it's one of the two hunters with weird accent, they, at least, have memorable and consistent character.
Perhaps if the movie lasts 2 hours instead of 90 minutes, they can actually make the audience identify with the supposedly "Hero" of the movie? That's how James Cameron did Avatar. You don't just throw a jarhead in the middle of war from beginning to the end (it worked for Black Hawk Down, not this movie); especially with an unfamiliar setting like the ancient Greece.
The action itself is horrible. The CGI is great; but the fighting choreography really sucks. It is like watching starship troopers - throw enough human and hope the last one kills the monster. Strangely 90 minutes goes pretty quickly while you are watching - but you'll ended up confused and slightly bored.
I hope they do much much better with the sequel.