A Missed Opportunity.

Rating: 5/10 (8 April 2010)

Found in a coffin with his dead mother as a child, Perseus is raised by a fisherman. Persues lives a quiet and normal life despite wanting to know where he came from. As mortals begin to rebel against the Gods, the Gods lash back by having Hades do his thing, which includes releasing the Kraken, unless the people sacrifice the princess Andromeda. Persues joins a small crew of men to go and stop this madness.
I love Greek mythology, I find it so interesting and when I watched the original Clash of the Titans when I was a child, the most memorable scene was Medusa's lair. Hearing about the remake made me excited, but it seems the filmmakers went the old generic Hollywood route and went for senseless action and and the cash grab that is 3-D. I don't remember everything about the original, but I do know that it is more entertaining then this forgettable swords and sandals 'epic'. I use the word epic loosely because the film does not feel as big as it's story. I don't know if Lord of the Rings has spoiled my "people on a quest adventure" but this film doesn't hold up to what it should be and it feels like a miss opportunity.
The biggest problem is the film lacks any kind of heart. I felt nothing for the forgettable characters, I can't even remember their names. The conflict didn't feel like it was raised to the right stake for me to care about what happens. There is no time spent with the Princess, why do I care if she gets sacrificed. I felt nothing for Perseus and his family, or his so called love interest. Which feels fake and tacked on to appeal to the females in the audience.
Worthington has literally exploded onto the big screen from nowhere. His acting chops haven't been tested yet and this film does nothing to try and provoke some kind of emotion from it's lead character. He screams and jumps from place to place and cries about wanting to defeat people as a man and nothing more. What should I have expected though right? Well, for one thing I was hoping to like all the Gods. Yet they managed to screw that up to. The Gods are hardly in it. My favourite God Poseidon stands in the background and has one line. I should be thankful he got that much because every other god just stand around in the background and serve no purpose.
The two main Gods that get the spotlight are Zeus and Hades. Played by Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes. Neeson does nothing, he just stands around and yells the famous trailer line "Release the Kraken". Fiennes does a good job and stands out, but at the same time he is simply playing Lord Voldemort and the connection is obvious.
What the film does offer is what most people going to see it want. Action. The special effects work and the action sequences are entertaining. The Medusa scene is nowhere near as memorable as the original and doesn't feel as important and the Kraken sequence, while spectacular is over far too soon. It's all about him getting out of the water, that's it. I was expecting Jack Sparrow to be stuck in his teeth.
In the end this film is sloppy and had problem from the script to the last edit. It's clunky and has no heart, the special effects and action sequences are entertaining, but not enough for one to invest their time into. Looking back on this film, there is not one moment that jumps out at me as impressive or note-worthy. More mythology, more character development and more story driven aspects would have helped the film immensely. Instead we get this Hollywood Blockbuster that fuels the fire of what a lot of people dislike.
Oh and I saw it in 2-D.