Raise the Titans

Rating: 6/10 (1 July 2012)

Pulverisingly loud and in-your-face blockbuster retelling the legend of Perseus, Hollywood style. As is Hollywood's wont, a lesser-known actor gets the main part, surrounded by bigger-name character actors in support to give the project some heft, but everything here is in thrall to the booming soundtrack and especially the special effects.
These are plentiful and eye-popping at times, each sequence obviously setting out to top the preceding one, with the battle against a slithering, mesmerising Medusa only topped with the attack of the Krakken at the climax.
Characterisation, again as is the norm, is slim, with the dialogue wooden and pretentious by turns. A little post-modern ironic humour wouldn't have gone amiss methinks instead of the odd mixture of contemporary modern and studiously archaic language on show here.
As for the acting, no-one rises above the SFX, with Liam Neeson an unlikely Zeus and Ralph Fiennes almost indecipherable as Hades, while Worthington appears too squat for the heroic role of Perseus, although there's no doubting his athleticism.
All that said, while the purists would probably hate it and liken it to a Disney park thrill-ride, as one who has ambitions to return to Florida next year, this whetted my appetite considerably.