Flashy action flick

Rating: 6/10 (5 January 2013)

CLASH OF THE TITANS is surprisingly fun for an effects-heavy Hollywood blockbuster, a remake of Ray Harryhausen's last movie (of the same title), made in 1981. While this is the inferior version - and I'll always plump for stop motion effects over CGI - it remains an engaging, entertaining piece of modern cinema.
Meathead Sam Worthington gives another ultra-wooden turn as Perseus, a demigod on Earth who decides to go on a quest to teach the vengeful gods a lesson. He's teamed up with a bunch of characters who are far more interesting than him (including Mads Mikkelsen and a wooden golem type guy) and spends the rest of the movie battling various CGI creations.
The story is slim and the dialogue slimmer, filled with predictable characters and stereotypes (Gemma Arterton's walking exposition-type character is particularly ill served). The scenes with the gods are silly and trite, with the likes of Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson looking like they're dressing up at the local panto. In essence, CLASH OF THE TITANS is a string of set-pieces involving the mythological monsters of old, including the Medusa and the Kraken.
Yet something works. It's an easy film to watch, light-hearted and unpredictable in places in regards to the fate of certain characters. The movie is heavy on spectacle and the action isn't too bad at all. I enjoyed it, and I'll be sure to check out the sequel (WRATH OF THE TITANS) in due course...