Titans will rise...

Rating: 10/10 (16 December 2016)

Clash of the Titans is one of the few remakes (especially of movies out of the 80's) which is better than the original, in my opinion. It succeeds in taking the story and do something different with it.
All the changes made are interesting, never forced and form a coherent film. (for example the characters of Calibos and Acrisius are now the same person, which helps the story to feel more focused)
The cinematography is great, beautiful landscapes and even dark, or intimate scenes look very good, and the color palette is very earthy, which fits the dusty environment.
If you know Louis Letteier, you know that the action's always very well done, it has all the trademarks you don't wanna have in a modern action film (many close-ups, fast editing, etc.) but Letterier is one of the few directors who know what they are doing and how to use these techniques effectively.
The special effects have aged fairly well, and were pretty good at the time this movie came to the cinema. One complain, from fans of the original, was that the creatures are now made with CGI, even though the original movie had the great effect wizardry of Ray Harryhausen, which is sad, but i always felt like it was very much hommaged in the animation of this movie. Harryhausen's stop-motion-creatures where great because they felt alive, (for example in The Valley of Gwangi is a great shot, where the monster scratches it's nose when it first comes into frame...), this movie does similar things, the creatures feel very alive and have much character.
The actors also do a great job, Sam Worthington is believable as leading man, and his character arc makes him a much more interesting character, than the shining hero we would expect. Liam Neeson as Zeus is a (literal) match made in heaven, and Ralph Fiennes shows, once again, why he is good in playing fantasy villains.
One aspect of this movie which i very much liked since i first saw it, is that even the background soldiers have distinct characters and are very likable, so that you feel for them when thy get killed, in many films, you don't even wink when one of the side characters die. Especially Mads Mikkelsen as the leader of the group is great.
Not to mention the incredible soundtrack from Ramin Djawadi, that hits all the right notes, it's amazing.
I think Clash of the Titans is one of the best straight-forward fantasy adventure films apart from the gigantic Lord of the Rings-Trilogy...