Absolute Failure......

Rating: 1/10 (10 July 2010)

This is the most wretched waste of time I have seen in many, many years. Utterly inferior to the classic 1981 original (one of my all time favorite movies!), it was a true chore to watch this. In fact, I couldn't make it all the way without fast forwarding through some of the duller sections. It has the dubious distinction of being the only one star movie that I actually took the time to review here.
How is this a failure? Let me count the ways. For starters, it was totally miscast. Greek demigod Perseus looks and talks like an Aussie rugby player with a 2010 haircut? Zeus wearing northern European knight's armor from the Middle Ages? Who approved these decisions??!!! There wasn't a single memorable character. The original had Harry Hamlin who looked to be the very personification of Perseus, and the great Burgess Meredith to lend weight to the movie and a generally excellent cast.
Then you have several key scenes out of sequence, or cut altogether such as the awesome early appearance of the Kraken from the original! Since this film HAS nothing else, they should have had the Kraken on-screen as often as possible. I give honorable mention for the creepiness of the Medusa scene, but it is cheapened by Medusa groaning like a frustrated cheerleader when she misses a shot with her bow and general bad editing. Wow. The Kraken itself was impressive enough and provided the most exciting moment in the film when he was seen rapidly swimming toward Argos, then surfacing like an emerging volcano. But you have to wait (or fast forward) through this entire dog to see that scene. So much wasted potential. Just think what could be done with this story in the right hands using CGI tech....
I've said it many times to the point of sounding like a broken record, but CGI more often than not ruins modern movies in my opinion, especially remakes of old classics. I suppose anyone that is a big fan of this failfest probably isn't even old enough or aware enough of history to know what a record is anyway......