CLASH OF THE TITANS (WB, 2010) D: Louis Leterrier, w/ Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson. Rating: NNN DVD package: none Rating: NNN
I don’t know why this tanked so badly in theatres. Maybe it was the crap 3-D, which isn’t on the DVD. At any rate, it’s perfectly watchable couch fodder, and even better than the Ray Harryhausen original in some places.
[rssbreak]
Perseus (Avatar’s Sam Worthington), semi-divine son of the god Zeus (Liam Neeson), gets chosen as champion when the king of Argos declares war on the gods, who, understandably peeved, demand the princess in sacrifice or they’ll unleash their immortal monster and destroy Argos. So Perseus and his little band of expendables head off to get a clue from the Stygian witches, battle Medusa and kill the monster. Along the way they’re bedeviled by giant scorpions and Calibos (Jason Flemyng), a henchcreature from Hades.
There’s no shortage of reasonably skilled CG action and rugged vistas for the winged horse to soar over. What’s lacking is emotion. Rent the original and run your own taste test on Calibos’s pathos, the Stygian witches’ wicked glee and Medusa’s sheer malignity. Harryhausen never directed any of the movies he’s famous for, but he knows how to get a performance out of a puppet. Louis Leterrier not so much.
As usual with certain big studio releases, the DVD has no extras.
EXTRAS Widescreen. English audio. English, French, Spanish subtitles.
