[5.75/10] Clash of the Titans [3D] (2010)

Clash of the Titans [3D] (2010)

"Clash of the Titans" had good moments, no doubt about it. Its source material also had potential. Its set pieces, visuals, and overall artistic direction were ok. Film's biggest problem truly is the writing. Not that it's bad, it's just lacking. Lacking in focus, lacking in rhythm, and lacking in character development. As for the actors portraying their respective roles, most were forgettable. Mads Mikkelsen is serviceable as Draco, Ralph Fiennes is underused as Hades, and Liam Neeson's Zeus is just unmemorable. And then there's Andromeda. This girl is hardly in the movie! Alexa Davalos can act, and the character had huge amounts of dramatic potential. Gemma Arterton as Io was eye-candy and very pleasent to watch. Truthfully, I don't know if it's Sam Worthington's acting or Leterrier's directing, but Perseus is just a flat, boring character for most of the movie. Perseus doesn't seem very heroic, there doesn't seem to be any emotional investment in Perseus in either the quest or the surrounding characters. Most of the time he has a stoically sullen, put upon attitude, and this keeps the audience at arms length from the character. He doesn't seem to embrace the heroic at all. Yes, he kills the monsters, but the tasks he must accomplish like tricking the Stygian witches and figuring out how to survive the encounter with Medusa, he seems to accomplish almost by accident. It seems that Perseus isn't meant to be heroic. As for the special effects, I thought they were good, not 'mind-blowing' great. The Kraken in particular really should've had a battle with another beast thrown in, and its use seems like a wasted opportunity. The scorpion battle is quite exciting, though is broken up as its really four fights with different scorpions simultaneously. The Medusa sequence is easily the best of the film, as although we know from a plot perspective Perseus can't die, the fate of the group of soldiers is considerably less clear. It all makes for a very tense and rewarding sequence, somewhat hindered by the surprisingly poor CG on the Medusa character model. Shame, as the rest of the monsters are quite good looking. The post-3D was terrible and added nothing to the movie! For those who haven't seen it yet, you might as well save your money and go and see the 2D version, because if you're expecting something as spectacular, visually, as "Avatar", you will be sadly disappointed. Overall, it's a fair popcorn flick which could have been more. It lacks suspense and imagination and the character of the old more popular version of the film which is a hindrance to this. Not a bad film, just nothing special despite the big cinematic treatment.

• My Rating: 5.75/10
• Rotten Tomatoes: 30% (4.4/10)
• IMDb: 6.2/10