Fertile ground for a remake generates very uneven results

Rating: Null/10 (7 September 2011)

In the eternal remake mill of Hollywood, it was by no means a bad idea to remake the 1981 action spectacle Clash of the Titans, which was a flawed, but fun epic that functioned as stop-motion special effects legend Ray Harryhausen's last hurrah. It is still fun, but one would need to be blind not to notice that the special effects are showing their age and that a good deal of entertainment stems from watching the cast of aging European acting nobility spouting bad dialog.
This Clash of the Titans keeps the bare bones of the original story with hero Perseus, the son of king of the gods Zeus, pressed into service to lead an expedition to save Princess Andromeda from being sacrificed to the dreaded sea Kraken.
This Clash is neither cheesy nor lacking in big budget effects, but it definitely lacks fun. The adventures of Greek mythology are a treasure trove for filmmakers and they have an entire new generation completely unfamiliar with them, so it seems strange that it is rarely revisited. One can certainly understand the intent of director Louis Letterier and the screenwriters to distance themselves from the potential camp pitfalls of the original and imbue some level of seriousness to the proceedings, I sincerely doubt that the end result should be this listless.
Most of the issues stem from the screenplay. The changes/flourishes they have added to this remake are ill-conceived and seriously hamper being engaged in the film. One of the biggest problems lies in a rather foolish change made in the dynamics of the relationship between Perseus and Andromeda. In the original film, they were romantic foils and Perseus had a definite stake in whether or not Andromeda was spared her fate. In the remake, Perseus (Sam Worthington) and Andromeda (Alexa Davalos) are barely nodding acquaintances. Perseus undergoes the journey largely because he is annoyed with the gods and Andromeda stays behind continuing ministering to the beleaguered citizens of Argos as some sort of Mother Teresa figure. It is a bizarre change which robs the story of any sense of urgency. If the leading man has no particular stake in the outcome, there is something missing.
For a romantic foil, the writers have added a new character named Io (Gemma Arterton), who was cursed by the gods to never age. For some reason, she takes a shine to Perseus and accompanies him on the journey as some kind of consultant. The character is fairly nonsensical and the film really assigns little time for anything that resembles romance, so the infatuation that develops between the characters is fairly mundane.
The protagonists have also changed to some extent. Whereas in the original, Andromeda was to be sacrificed because her vain mother offended the sensibilities of the goddess Thetis, Hades is rather unimaginatively made the villain of the piece. Indeed the goddesses of Olympus, often a force to be reckoned with in their own right, are largely forgotten in this film.
The film is decidedly grittier than the original, completely lacking in the magical visual splendors of its predecessor. It does not even look particularly enticing with many sequences oddly drained of color. It is also lacking in suspense. The sequence in Medusa's lair – a highlight in the original – is strangely missing any element of tension here. And isn't it a bit dumb that everyone except Perseus succumbs on this journey? While there were a number of deaths in the original, the entire party was not annihilated.
While the cheese factor on Mount Olympus has been minimized, it somehow does not seem an improvement. Liam Neeson, who seems be trapped in these roles now, is rather dully cast as Zeus. The only other god of note is Hades, played by a tiresome hissing Ralph Fiennes.
Back on terra firma, the cast does not have it much better. Gemma Arterton is lovely, but her role is ill-defined and ultimately pointless. Jason Flemyng is predictably hammy as the disfigured villain Calibos. Davalos fails to make much impression as Andromeda, who always seems to hover just outside of the action. Any fanboys hoping for a redux of the infamous nude bath sequence from the original with Judi Bowker are destined for disappointment.
There is no question that Sam Worthington – fresh from the success of Avatar – contributes a better performance than Harry Hamlin. Hamlin's pecs and hair seemed to be doing all of the heavy lifting, but Hamlin was also surrounded by a better production. Worthington has the correct physicality and he sure looks nice in a skirt, but the screenplay has turned Perseus into such a one-note dour sort. He only embarks on the quest to thumb his nose at the gods and spends most of the film slapping away any help provided by his father. Defiance seems to be the character's only characteristic, which hogties Worthington acting-wise. With a better screenplay, he may have rocked the part.
In the end this is little more than another missed opportunity. There are a couple of highlights, such as the scorpion battle and the climactic appearance of the Kraken, but these were done better in the original. Similarly, any of the new elements that the filmmakers thought would make things more interesting, more often than not, fall flat. I do like that Pegasus is a sleek black horse rather than the traditional white.
I gather a sequel is in the works. Not necessarily a bad development given that there are so many adventures that can play out from this material, but hopefully the screenwriters have learned some lessons from this effort. A word to the wise – give Worthington's Perseus more than one character trait and a stake in the outcome. And while they're at it, how about giving those goddesses on Olympus something to do as well?