The problem with Clash of the Titans

Rating: 4/10 (13 September 2010)

I finally saw it in glorious 2d on my high-definition TV set. The ingredients could have been there for a wonderful heroic movie but it was a miss for me. The special effects were certainly professional, especially the creatures, but I felt disconnected and even bored more than once. The heroics you would expect were not exciting or elating like they should have been (see "300" or "Lord of the Rings" for that). The deaths were practically all lame and anticlimactic. In fiction, I expect deaths to shock, amaze and/or move me. None of that here. Worst of all, sometimes I didn't even know if a named character had just just died! Not for suspense reasons but because it was badly filmed. In an epic fantasy movie, I expect to feel some awe and wonder. Those feelings were not really there for me. The flight on a winged steed didn't thrill me at all as it did in "Avatar" or "How to Train your Dragon".
The characters were mostly cardboard, uninteresting and didn't have much presence except for Io, the only female companion, who had an otherwordly yet classical beauty quality to her, and Hades the God of the Underworld. The little seen Greek Gods were underwhelming and the more present Zeus (Liam Neeson)'s armor was not only too shiny (perhaps to hide the low-quality craftmanship) but his beard was ugly and distracting. It bugged me that Perseus the hero became a master swordfighter in one battle (heredity can only explain so much) and that no one bothered to close their eyes or cover them while fighting the Medusa. To people who say there's no story, I would say instead that there's a simple one. The problem is that it's not that engrossing or memorable. You can easily be distracted by the successions of fights especially when the few character moments (supposed to build up sympathy for the characters) are lacking.
The story also relies too often on surprise allies or cheap gimmicks to get the heroes out of trouble. For the last adversary who should be near impossible to defeat, it felt as if the director just badly needed to wrap things up quickly. It doesn't excuse how short, illogical and disappointing that "battle" was. Oh and lest we forget, there is no clash between "Titans" per say. It's more clashes between humans and mythological creatures. This remake is certainly watchable, would make an acceptable rental for fantasy fans, but it lacks in heart and talent what it certainly does not lack in budget.
Rating : 4 out of 10 (Poor)