Could have been so much better..

Rating: 6/10 (3 April 2010)

This movie had great moments, no doubt about it. Its source material also had great potential. Its set pieces, visuals, and overall artistic direction were all fantastic. Most of the cast are also well-chosen actors with good ability. The problem here truly is the writing. Not that it's bad, it's just...well...lacking. Lacking in focus, lacking in rhythm, and lacking in character development. Perhaps the greatest flaw is in the fact that all the supporting characters are far more interesting and textured than the main character.
Truthfully, I don't know if it's Sam Worthington's acting, Leterrier's directing or just the material; but Perseus is just a flat, boring character for most of the movie. I mean yes, he makes decisions, he moves around and he fights but there's little to no emotional investment in this. I can't tell what he's feeling at any given moment, no matter how earth-shattering the events are around him. Consequently, I can sympathize or empathize with him as a human being. His characters opinions and decisions also very often seem out of the blue.
And then there's Andromeda, I mean jeez talk about wasted opportunity. This girl is hardly in the movie! Alexa Davalos can act, and the character had huge amounts of dramatic potential. A kingdom falling apart, parents who dared challenge the Gods, and the duty to end it all by sacrificing herself. There's great stuff here, but sadly either the writers or the director decided it wasn't important enough to show us.
Time management seemed to have been a really big issue here. Or just focus. They had two hours to set up the players, build up to climaxes, and tell us a story. In my opinion they spent far too much of it showing us inconsequential things. I don't want to spoil anything, but really the entire twenty-minute opening of the movie could've been shortened by half and/or merged into the next twenty minutes with nothing lost. Because the didn't do this, I had a feeling they were forced to wrap up the climax and conclusion in far too sloppy a manner.
Great action, good atmosphere, just wish they did the main character more justice. Hell of a supporting cast though.