So there’s this 3D movie starring Sam Worthington, playing an outsider who joins up with a group of folks desperate to save their homeland from, as it turns out, Sam’s own people. Sam goes to some effort trying to convince his new allies that they needn’t fear or suspect him, and along the way he fights a bunch of strange monsters and even gets to soar into battle on the back of a flying mount. And this movie is not called Avatar. Still with me?
In all fairness, I’m sure that the filmmakers behind the new remake of Clash of the Titans (opening today nationwide) weren’t looking to so strongly evoke the themes and situations of James Cameron’s gazillion-dollar grossing pic; in fact, there are any number of literary experts, film historians and/or conspiracy theorists who’ll be only too happy to turn that comparison on its head and tell you the original source of every frame in Avatar. On the other hand, it wasn’t Cameron who added trendy 3D effects to his film at practically the last minute (and I’m sorry to say that that’s exactly how they come across in Titans: as an eleventh-hour afterthought).
Worthington stars as Perseus, the foster son of a poor fisherman (Pete Postlethwaite) who discovered him as a baby, abandoned off the coasts of Ancient Greece. Perseus is raised to adulthood without the slightest clue as to his true origins, until the day when his family’s boat is wrecked, and he left the only survivor, during what amounts to a temper tantrum by the god of the Underworld, Hades. Seems the pantheon of gods, led by Zeus (represented here by the mortal form of Liam Neeson), is none too happy with the diminishing quality of worship they’ve been receiving from their earthbound children. Hades has gotten the bright idea of reinstilling, literally, the fear of god(s) back into the human race, and he visits the royal hall of the city of Argos to give them the choice of either sacrificing the lovely princess Andromeda or seeing the entire city destroyed by the fury of the sea-dwelling behemoth, the Kraken. Because Perseus happens to be in the hall to witness this ultimatum, Hades also does him the favor of informing him that his true father is, in fact, Zeus. This being Ancient Greece where this sort of thing was commonplace, no one, including Perseus himself, questions this revelation for a second.
The Argosians are understandably less than thrilled to have one of the gods’ immediate family members among them, but Perseus, seeking revenge upon Hades over the loss of his foster family, convinces them that their enemy is also his enemy. So begins our adventure…and unfortunately, so the film begins to lose its way.
I’m of the opinion that critical analysis of a film should put aside any concerns as to whether it’s a remake (or a sequel, for that matter). There are films that are less entertaining than this one, and there are films that are more entertaining this one; into which category the original falls is really no more relevant to an assessment of the film at hand than into which category any other film lands (it’s okay, by the way, if you don’t agree; I’m just telling you how I get to here from there). However, there’s an aspect to these films that can’t escape a direct comparison, and that’s the effects work employed to create the monsters and mythological creatures that rear their heads throughout the telling of the stories.
The original film is notable for the classic stop-motion animation overseen by one of the true masters of the form, Ray Harryhausen. In 1981, this painstaking method of capturing the impossible on celluloid was already on its way out, thanks to the groundbreaking computer-assisted work done on Star Wars, CE3K, Superman: The Movie and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, among others. But it still had its charm, and more importantly, a real sense of “how’d -they-do-that?” You knew the monsters weren’t real. You knew the Kraken wasn’t a hundred feet high. You knew those weren’t real snakes in Medusa’s hair. But you also saw them all interacting with genuine grade-A human beings that you knew were real. So even on the rare occasion when a Harryhausen monster failed to impress, you still got a goofy grin on your face as you marveled at the attempt to create an image that most filmmakers would leave to the pages of a comic book.
With CGI, this is no longer than the case. When Perseus goes after the Medusa, spinning and flipping through the air with sword in hand, it’s just as likely that he’s a CGI creation as she. Now this is all well and good; every single inch of Wall-E was CGI, after all, and I still loved the movie. But that’s because I was given a reason to care about the characters and their fate, and this is where Titans falls down. Perseus is accompanied by a group of Argosians, many of whose names failed to register with me, assuming they were ever given in the film at all. Performances are almost interchangeable, with only Mads Mikkelsen (as Draco) and Liam Cunningham (as Solon, whose name I truly didn’t know until the credits rolled) standing out. Polly Walker is gorgeous, stately and impressive in a brief turn as Queen Cassiopeia, but there are three other brunettes that I could barely tell apart. Olympus and its gods are similarly vaguely defined; Neeson is appropriately regal as Zeus (though his costume is disappointingly unimaginative), and Ralph Fiennes makes the most of his role as Hades (even if, at times, you expect him to start ranting about Harry Potter), but the rest of the Pantheon might as well have been in the audience watching the film for all the effect they had on the story’s proceedings. Lastly, Perseus himself is a hero difficult to root for. Worthington plays him mainly with an unreadable glower, apparently resigned to his mission and somewhat resentful about the insistence of his fellow travelers that he take advantage of his demi-godly powers. There’s barely any hint of emotional intensity to his performance, and almost zero tension regarding his ability to achieve his goals and win the day.
Apart from the group’s journey to the Underworld — strikingly imagined, and Medusa is very well realized — there are few sequences that truly stand out. Director Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, Unleashed) supposedly talked early choice Stephen Norrington into letting him helm this film instead, due to his familiarity with, and affection for, the original. Ultimately, however, the film might have been better served by a director exploring uncharted ground, hoping to infuse the audience with a sense of wonder, rather than one looking to emulate a childhood favorite.
Though I have to say that there’s an in-joke for fans of the original that definitely makes this version worth at least a rental.
For tickets and showtimes in your area, visit Fandango’s page for Clash of the Titans.
All images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. ©2010 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and Legendary Pictures.
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