I haven’t spent much time imagining what the ancient gods looked like, but even if I had, I don’t suspect I would have envisaged Zeus as Liam Neeson in a glowing suit of chrome armour. Seeing the King of the Gods bathed in a radiant Ready Brek glow is just one of the many questionable elements of the vapid Clash of the Titans, a remake of the 1981 epic starring Laurence Olivier.
With such rich Greek mythology available to draw upon, that the four credited writers were unable to piece together one good story of man’s battle with the gods is in itself an achievement. Spyros (Pete Postlethwaite) exclaims at one point, “I’ve never understood the gods.” It’s a sentiment that will no doubt be voiced by many as they struggle to make sense of this rather convoluted tale. While the names of Zeus, Hades and Perseus might be familiar to audiences, their stories are probably less so. And while this provides a Cliff Notes summary of their roles within mythology, it provides little else.
Even with a prologue to provide a basic road map of the characters, it is easy to get lost. The story focuses on Perseus (Sam Worthington) who as the son of the god Zeus and daughter of Danae (Tina Staplefeldt) is a demi god and the possessor of special powers. As such, it is he who leads a group to the Underworld, ruled by Zeus’ brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes). Hades has threatened to “Unleash the Kracken,” to destroy the city of Argos whose citizens have rebelled against the gods. In the Underworld, Perseus must behead the monstrous Medusa (Natalia Vodianova), whose stare turns men to stone, and use it to defeat the Kracken and save Princess Andromeda (Alexa Davalos) and Argos.
Even with the technological resources available depicting a God is a challenge, but to find them comical is perhaps not quite what director Louis Leterrier was striving for. Fiennes is inclined to ham up his role courtesy of his melodramatic delivery. Indeed, there is much that one finds oneself laughing at. One scene involving Perseus and his men battling giant scorpions conjured memories of Raquel Welch’s encounter with a huge lizard in One Million Years B.C. Originally shot in 2-D, with the sudden appetite for 3-D, it had its extra dimension added later, which is never as effective. As a consequence, visually it pales in comparison with Avatar. With the bar having been set so high, this felt decidedly hokey at times, resembling more the old fashioned sand and sandal epics than anything innovative.
Although technologically Clash of the Titans has little in common with Avatar, it does share the same star in Sam Worthington. However, while Worthington’s rather limited acting skills weren’t so evident as a 10-ft blue avatar, here his repertoire of stock expressions make Perseus, in common with the rest of the film, rather one dimensional.
Kevin Murphy
