Written by Travis Beacham and Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi
Directed by Louis Leterrier
Running Time: 1:58
Rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence, some frightening images and brief sensuality.
C-
THE OPENING
Clash of the Titans in 3D was rather pointless and while the battle sequences were decent, the rest of the movie was kind of boring.
THE STORY
Perseus was found in the middle of the ocean and raised not knowing who his true parents were. Humans, tired of the Gods telling them how to live, destroy a statue of Zeus. Enraged, Hades, the brother of Zeus, destroys the men and in doing so, kills the family of Perseus. Hades tells Zeus that the only way the humans will ever respect them again is to destroy them or have them offer up a sacrifice. Perseus, trying to get his revenge on Hades, sets off on a quest to find out how to kill the God. He travels take him far and wide, and to the depths of the underworld. But along with loyal human soldiers, and a woman who is sent to watch over him, Perseus finally realizes who his father was, and what his true destiny may be.
THE REVIEW
I probably did a horrible job recounting the story of Clash of the Titans but I think I got the major points. I'll be completely honest - I was rather bored by the movie. The first, and biggest problem, I had with the movie was that the 3D was really, really bad. Now, it's possible it was because of where I was seated (far to the right of the theater) but if 3D only works from the 'good' seats then why would anyone go? The 3D was, a lot of the time, not even used for any purpose. I'm not talking about having things shooting out at you from the screen, because that's not necessary. But just having some depth of field. There were times when I took off the glasses and watched the movie that way without losing anything. 3D is supposed to be this new, great thing that will save the movie industry but let's face it, most of the time it's not worth the extra money. If a movie is shot in 3D, that's one thing. If it's an animated movie, then while it might not be necessary to see it in 3D, it still looks good. But for a movie like this, where it's converted into 3D, it generally looks bad.
The other problem with the new 3D technology is that it uses glasses that have a dark tint to them. It's like wearing a pair of sunglasses. Now, while the technology is better than the old red & blue glasses, trying watching a normal movie with sunglasses on. Everything looks dark! And the filmmakers haven't compensated for that which makes the entire movie feel like it's in shadows. And anytime there's a sequence that takes place at night? Forget about it. You have to strain so hard to see it's no wonder people get headaches. Until the 3D conversion gets better, and until filmmakers realize that watching a movie with sunglasses on means you need to make your movie brighter, I don't know why anyone would want to pay an extra $2-5 to see a movie in 3D. I think I'll stick with the 2D, thank you.
So taking away the fact that the 3D was actually distracting, there was the rest of the movie. The film had virtually no color in it. There was nothing that popped out, leaving the entire palette very earthy and bland. Didn't anyone wear bright red back then? Something was needed to make the film more visually entertaining. While some of the scenery was interesting, the color scheme just made the film even more boring than it already was. Sam Worthington, who has turned into the go-to guy for action films these days, was equally as bland. His supporting cast had a ton more personality than he did, except most of them ended up dying. I didn't really care for him all that much and so I wasn't really rooting for him. His initial rage at his family dying was quickly extinguished and while the entire story was about him finding a way to kill Hades, it took so long to get to that point, I kind of lost focus.
The movie reminded me a lot of other movies. There were little bits of Pirates of the Caribbean, 300, Harry Potter, and The Lord of the Rings in there. The problem with that is, all 4 (or 13) of those films were a lot better and so I kept hoping I'd see Frodo or Jack Sparrow appear to make me happy. Now, all this being said, there were some good moments in the movie. Any time Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes appeared on screen together, the movie picked up. In fact, any time Fiennes showed up things were happening. Of course, he appeared for maybe a total of 10 minutes before his character was quickly shot to hell. Some of the action sequences were decent. Some were dumb and hard to watch, but some were fun. The end battle sequence with Perseus on a Pegasus fighting the Kraken... that entire sequence was entertaining. Unfortunately it came too little too late.
THE BOTTOM LINE
So overall, I wasn't a fan of Clash of the Titans. The 3D was completely unnecessary, the picture was dark and the movie itself was just bland. Hold on to your money for something a little better coming up in the next month.
So taking away the fact that the 3D was actually distracting, there was the rest of the movie. The film had virtually no color in it. There was nothing that popped out, leaving the entire palette very earthy and bland. Didn't anyone wear bright red back then? Something was needed to make the film more visually entertaining. While some of the scenery was interesting, the color scheme just made the film even more boring than it already was. Sam Worthington, who has turned into the go-to guy for action films these days, was equally as bland. His supporting cast had a ton more personality than he did, except most of them ended up dying. I didn't really care for him all that much and so I wasn't really rooting for him. His initial rage at his family dying was quickly extinguished and while the entire story was about him finding a way to kill Hades, it took so long to get to that point, I kind of lost focus.
