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It almost seems like sacrilege: Going back to Ray Harryhausen's '80s epic Clash of the Titans and reinterpreting it for a 3D-fixated, CG-aholic audience. For those unfamiliar with his name (and shame on you for that), Harryhausen remains the king of traditional stop motion animation, an F/X artist who redefined the style in such sensational matinee adventures as Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Jason and the Argonauts, and The Golden Voyage of Sindbad. He's beloved for his quirky, antiquated approach, which elevated the films that utilized it out of the genre ghetto; some of them are now considered classics simply because Harryhausen worked on them.
But now, action specialist Louis Leterrier (The Transporter, The Incredible Hulk) is updating this questionable mishmash of Greek Mythology, turning the tale of Perseus (Sam Worthington), a demi-god son of Zeus (Liam Neeson) and their battle against Lord of the Underworld Hades (Ralph Fiennes) into a combination of Lord of the Rings, The Ten Commandments, and every cheese ball peplum every pushed by an Italian movie producer. The results are certainly surreal -- like a Bible story built upon a pagan's interpretation of scripture. And yet, for the most part, Clash of the Titans is excellent. What it lacks in logic it makes up for in astonishing optical wonder.
We first meet Perseus when, as a baby, he is saved from the sea by fisherman Spyros (Pete Postlethwaite). Fast forward a few decades and it's a time of chaos, man rebelling against the gods and their haughty, holier-than-thou actions. Zeus doesn't like this lack of reverence, and orders his bad brother Hades to unleash the Kraken (a mythic monster from the ocean's depths) to destroy the city of Argos. However, if the King sacrifices his only daughter, Andromeda (Alexa Davalos) to the beast, the town will be spared. Hoping to kill the Kraken, Perseus teams up with some soldiers, a couple of freelance hunters, and a strange sort of desert rock people known as Djinn to find Medusa, the Gorgon, remove her snake-covered head, and use it as a means of defeating Zeus, Hades, and their Hellspawn once and for all.
Clash of the Titans is out of this world -- meaning that it exists in a psycho parallel universe where nothing need make sense, just as long as it serves the spectacle. It's the most schizophrenic of current entertainments, taking itself way too seriously while piling on the superficial, breezy eye candy with jaw-dropping audacity. Forget Harryhausen and his desire to be "faithful" to genre tradition. Leterrier just wants to "wow" us, and he does so time and time again. There's a battle between our hero and some elephantine scorpions that moves with lightning effectiveness, as well as a cat-and-mouse chase with Medusa that sprawls across an M.C. Escher inspired temple. Even the final Kraken confrontation is mesmerizing in its vertigo-inducing dog/demon fighting.
Too bad then that the personal dynamics can't keep up. We really don't care if Perseus wins, though we sense that the script will keep victory on his side. There's no real romance or love interest on display, though our hero does get one minor huff and puff with ageless mentor Io (Gemma Arterton). Even the villainous Calibos (Jason Flemyng) is retrofitted with a ridiculous backstory and way too much interpersonal baggage to be a true baddie. Only Fiennes and Neeson understand the camp levels involved and play their omnipresent parts with the necessary verve. As for the rest of the Olympian throng? Who knows -- they barely warrant a mention, let alone time onscreen.
In fact, all cinematic gimmickry aside, Clash of the Titans feels like a throwback to the days when high concepts and splashy special effects ruled the day. Too bad it couldn't go a bit further and pay real homage to the man who made such gods and monsters viable.
But now, action specialist Louis Leterrier (The Transporter, The Incredible Hulk) is updating this questionable mishmash of Greek Mythology, turning the tale of Perseus (Sam Worthington), a demi-god son of Zeus (Liam Neeson) and their battle against Lord of the Underworld Hades (Ralph Fiennes) into a combination of Lord of the Rings, The Ten Commandments, and every cheese ball peplum every pushed by an Italian movie producer. The results are certainly surreal -- like a Bible story built upon a pagan's interpretation of scripture. And yet, for the most part, Clash of the Titans is excellent. What it lacks in logic it makes up for in astonishing optical wonder.
We first meet Perseus when, as a baby, he is saved from the sea by fisherman Spyros (Pete Postlethwaite). Fast forward a few decades and it's a time of chaos, man rebelling against the gods and their haughty, holier-than-thou actions. Zeus doesn't like this lack of reverence, and orders his bad brother Hades to unleash the Kraken (a mythic monster from the ocean's depths) to destroy the city of Argos. However, if the King sacrifices his only daughter, Andromeda (Alexa Davalos) to the beast, the town will be spared. Hoping to kill the Kraken, Perseus teams up with some soldiers, a couple of freelance hunters, and a strange sort of desert rock people known as Djinn to find Medusa, the Gorgon, remove her snake-covered head, and use it as a means of defeating Zeus, Hades, and their Hellspawn once and for all.
Clash of the Titans is out of this world -- meaning that it exists in a psycho parallel universe where nothing need make sense, just as long as it serves the spectacle. It's the most schizophrenic of current entertainments, taking itself way too seriously while piling on the superficial, breezy eye candy with jaw-dropping audacity. Forget Harryhausen and his desire to be "faithful" to genre tradition. Leterrier just wants to "wow" us, and he does so time and time again. There's a battle between our hero and some elephantine scorpions that moves with lightning effectiveness, as well as a cat-and-mouse chase with Medusa that sprawls across an M.C. Escher inspired temple. Even the final Kraken confrontation is mesmerizing in its vertigo-inducing dog/demon fighting.
Too bad then that the personal dynamics can't keep up. We really don't care if Perseus wins, though we sense that the script will keep victory on his side. There's no real romance or love interest on display, though our hero does get one minor huff and puff with ageless mentor Io (Gemma Arterton). Even the villainous Calibos (Jason Flemyng) is retrofitted with a ridiculous backstory and way too much interpersonal baggage to be a true baddie. Only Fiennes and Neeson understand the camp levels involved and play their omnipresent parts with the necessary verve. As for the rest of the Olympian throng? Who knows -- they barely warrant a mention, let alone time onscreen.
In fact, all cinematic gimmickry aside, Clash of the Titans feels like a throwback to the days when high concepts and splashy special effects ruled the day. Too bad it couldn't go a bit further and pay real homage to the man who made such gods and monsters viable.
