release the campiness! it's not all there, it seems

Rating: 4/10 (1 April 2010)

The original Clash of the Titans will come up in most reviews of the new 2010 version directed by Louis Leterier (Incredible Hulk). Might as well join in: frankly, the original was no full-blown classic, but it was a good chunk of Saturday afternoon fodder for us fans of the Ray Harryhausen school of stop-motion in fantastical tales of Gods and monsters. But it does appear to have more classic tendencies than one remembered when looking at the new film. Even if I hadn't seen the original, I'd have the sneaking suspicion that something was up with this film, that its story went through a mechanical meat-grinder in the studio executive sense, that the scriptwriters were behooved to make a film for a low-common denomenator, and to make sure, of course, that everything was as neatly explained as possible. Zeus, Hades, who are these people to Joe six-pack? Nothing they can't take in simple action-movie stride, it would seem.
This Clash of the Titans is a stupid, quite possibly bad movie. I can't say I didn't have fun with it, however. Its makers must be aware, at least on some level, that they are in spirit remaining true to the original, which itself had its level of camp (and, where that had nothing less than Olivier as Zeus, they bring on Liam Neeson this time to fill the role, something he's up to task to do, perfectly straight-faced doing some ridiculous lines). And make no mistake, you shouldn't take this stuff *too* seriously. Go back to your school books in the Greek mythology school for that (if you start comparing this to the 'history', by the way, you might find more than a few discrepancies, like, for example, the much more blatant disregard humans have for the Gods, when in the text it was just the occasional hiccup of dissent).
The story is cookie-cutter, but then again it was in the original: Perseus is a Demigod, bastard man of Argos via Zeus, and put in place to stop Hades and, more crucially, the A-bomb in the beast Kraken. From this premise on, it's a series of wild action scenes and confrontations, lots of sword dueling and men in steel-plated chest guards fighting things like scorpions and Medusa and other weird demony things. Again, similar to the original. But there's something about Leterier's movie that, in a way, doesn't quite go far enough with the campy-ness (mostly Ralph Fiennes, playing Hades as if still mostly in character as Voldemort, and on occasion Neeson - Worthington is a complete cardboard cut-out hero as he was in Avatar). Some lines and scenes bring some laughs (i.e. all of the "Pegasus-es", ho-ho), but then it stalls and goes into crap common-ACTION movie mode. Ho-hum.
It is not that all of the direction is bad, but some of it just so mechanical, moving from one thing to the next, rarely with much emotion or spark. And the effects, save for the big finish with the Kraken at the climax, barely have the same intensity or just pure joy and wonderment of Harryhausen's creations (and this may be a minor gripe, but it's a true shame there's no owl save for the brief mention). When I wasn't trying to hold in my laughter at the stone-faced delivery of some lines, or the hambone delivery of others (i.e. Fiennes, the flamboyant character awaiting to sacrifice the girl to the Kraken), I was kind of bored. Somewhere inside of Clash of the Titans it knows it's as bad as it wants to be, but it also thinks its as cool as all of the major blockbusters in recent memory.
It's neither total foul nor is it a rousing success. I'd say it's worth it to see those spectacular sights on a big screen (and in 2D only, not the 3D that's suckering people in after the fact), but in reality one would feel comfortable with a bunch of friends mocking it to pieces. Some of this is a lot of fun, in the most guilty-pleasure way possible in Hollywood product. Other times, it's just dull as hell.