Haters gonna hate

Rating: 8/10 (20 April 2010)

One of my very earliest memories of being blown away and scared to death by a movie was when I was a kid and saw Jason and the Argonauts on TV. With a child's eyes there was no doubt to me that it was some sort of documentary, and the fight with the skeletons stayed with me for a long time. Ever since then I have been a fan of Greek mythology and the huge monsters that inherit the stories. So you can imagine I was really excited for this one, despite all the negative reviews. I went in to the movie expecting little more than simply an entertaining popcorn movie, and that was exactly what I got.
The makers of this remake have changed the story around a lot, the original also deviated from the original myth about Perseus, but this goes even further away. The result is not perfect, part of the film's biggest problems is the bad lines and all the exposition that is needed because of the changes made to the original story. The story of the 2010 version seems to be made to be some sort of allegory to the war on terrorism, with Perseus in a marine haircut going out to the desert to find evil (Osama Bin Ladin), and then return to ward of the terrorist threat made by Hades and his horrific Kraken. The original Clash of the Titans is far from a perfect movie even though it's more true to the original myth, and one of the good things about the changes made is that it allows for more action scenes. Which should be the main reason why you go and see a film like this one.
I've not done any academic research into the subject, but I have the firm conviction that movie ratings and whether you like or dislike a movie depends 95 percent on your expectations. If you go into a movie like this and expect another Godfather, of course you are going to be let down. If you go into this movie and expect a light hearted action film, you are likely to be satisfied because that's exactly what this is and it doesn't promise anything else. The special effects are really good and the action scenes rival those in Avatar. The 3D effects are only a gimmick in CotT and they look really bad (especially the actor's faces in closeups, they look like they are inflated balloons or something), but it's not enough to ruin the film. Any fans of action films should be able to enjoy this one as long as you go into it with an open mind and realistic expectations.