An Emotionally Hollow Remake

Rating: 4/10 (13 April 2010)

I confess I watched the original 1981 film again recently in preparation for watching this remake. There was not any way for me to watch this new movie without making comparisons with the earlier movie. By the way, I only watched the 2D version.
I can safely say that this new movie did not really make a significant improvement on the original film. Yes, the two movies are both have Perseus as the main hero. Some details from the first movie still appear, like Pegasus, the Stygian witches, Medusa and the Kraken. Even the wretched mechanical owl Bubo makes an appearance, thankfully in only a short cameo.
Harry Hamlin is not really that much of an actor. But vis-a vis Sam Worthington, Hamlin is an Oscar winner! First of all, Worthington looks terribly out of place there, having not a shred of Greek appearance in him at all. And more importantly, he had very weak charisma as the hero of this epic. And with him, the whole enterprise simply collapses.
It did not help that Perseus' all-important love affair with Andromeda is NOT even part of this new film! This gave the whole movie the totally different direction and perspective, opposite from what was originally in the myths which were supposed to have inspired it. The origins of Calibos and the scorpions were also changed, though not necessarily for the better. And, where on earth did the character of Perseus' guardian angel Io come from? That said, the actress who played Io (the beautiful Gemma Arterton) is, for me, the best part of the new movie.
Now how about the special effects? Yes, Ray Harryhausen's stop motion animation in the first movie already looks dated. But still, the Medusa sequence in the first movie remains superior than the very artificial, CG version here. The very palpable suspense, tension and scare factor of the original was NOT present in this new version. I must say though that the Pegasus special effects of this new movie, especially the flying scenes, were beautifully done. Too bad its role was lazily shoehorned in so conveniently and illogically.
Overall, I am disappointed in the way the script was written and the way the whole thing was acted out and executed by the director. For an action movie, yes, it was OK. However, there are expectations when it is an epic mythical story that is being told. There had been too much concentration on the special effects extravaganza, such that a lot of the all-important story was lost in the adrenaline rush. The whole film did not really work too well for me.