Clash of the Titans displays visuals that do not justify the ridiculous prices of admission charged by cinemas

Rating: 4/10 (2 May 2010)

In Ancient Greece the gods have grown restless as they have discovered that the mortals below them are tearing down their statues in a bid for independence. Hades (Ray Fiennes) pleads with Zeus (Liam Neeson) to allow him to be sent down to Earth to punish the mortals. Perseus (Sam Worthington) is a simple fisherman who is unable to save his father from drowning during the attack from Hades. The mortals fear the threat of a beast called the Kraken, set to be unleashed by Hades, unless a sacrifice can be made to it. It is soon revealed that Perseus is not just a fisherman, but the illegitimate son of Zeus, and thus he must rise up with a number of other soldiers to discover his true self and to find a way to defeat both Hades and the Kraken monster too.
The decision for director Louis Leterrier to remake the 1981 version of Clash of the Titans into a bigger, louder and more expensive spectacle stems from his love of the original. He has stated that he was a huge fan of the original in his childhood. His remake is showing in both 2D and 3D but it is impossible to recommend the film in either format because the adventure here takes so few chances and is so insignificant and dull that it is not even worth seeing for the visuals. The screenplay written by Travis Beacham, Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi is very loosely strung together through a handful of action sequences, leading from giant scorpions, Medusa and then a showdown with the Kraken itself. For as big as monsters are, there is still a distinct lack of personality for almost all of the characters here. It would be unreasonable to expect personas of intellectual and emotion depth in a film like this, but as adventure films like Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) have shown, there is still enjoyment be found in developing characterisation and allowing the audience to be more involved with the story. Clash of the Titans wants to be taken seriously when there is very little reason to care about where the characters are going and whether they live or die or not. With a running time of less than two hours, the film is thankfully brief and the pacing is brisk. Yet those that are going to pay full price to see the film in 3D will either feel cheated by the quality of the picture or by how short it is.
Audience that are determined to see the film purely for the spectacle will be disappointed by the outright laziness of the 3D effects. Presumably rushed to coincide with Worthington's success with Avatar, the 3D technology here would barely be recognisable if it were not for the consistently blurry textures at the start of each scene, as there is very little depth added to the picture here. The most significant difference that the glasses make is that the frames make scenes darker and muddier than they should be. The issues with the visuals here highlight the greater problems facing 3D, specifically whether studios are going to abuse the trust of viewers by coaxing them into more expensive films, when the least amount of effort has been placed into the technology. The scale of the film's monsters is more pleasing, particularly the giant scorpions, but even they are contained in fairly uninvolving action sequences. Those that are expecting visceral combat and gore will be disappointed because the violence here is particularly tame, with people being thrown into the air, and only a select number of limbs being loped off, without much force. Without any attention to the characters it makes very little difference as to who is being killed and the final battle between the Kraken and Perseus is pitifully weak, ending very quickly and easily.
Sam Worthington gives a disappointingly lacklustre, one-note performance here and if he is not more selective and careful about the sort of films that he chooses to make in Hollywood his talents are going to be continually wasted. He shows very little charisma here and his character is left simply to be angry and snarl for much of the picture. The film has presumably been shortened and cut as well because his character Perseus transits from being a humble fisherman to a warrior in the space of about two scenes. There are a number of other high profile actors in the film like Liam Neeson and Ray Fiennes, who have smaller parts to play, but they are wasted and really should have known better with this pretty thankless material.
Clash of the Titans displays visuals that do not justify the ridiculous prices of admission charged by cinemas. They are simply not up to the high standards of a number of superior 3D films. The adventure itself is also not violent or gory enough to satisfy younger viewers who are excited by the prospect of giant monsters and the distinct lack of humour or self-awareness does not allow the film to transcend the tired familiarities of this particular genre. It might not be the most cringing or annoying film this year, but it will surely be one of the most forgettable.