Clash of the Titans

***SPOILER ALERT***

Possibly one of the most anticipated remakes and action movies of the year, I find Clash of the Titans a visual treat that did not deliver much in the way of content.

It was interesting how the director compressed the early life of the main character - Perseus - in the span of a few minutes, complete with cheesy lines such as "Someday, someone will say "enough"!". I believe this did not lend well to Perseus' character development, as well as necessitating a part later on in the movie that explains his 'oceanic baby survival'. I found this an unnecessary backtrack when the movie was going along quite nicely. Bleh.

Water special effects was one of the two SFX I found to be rather poor. Perseus' sea-shots with his adopted father and boat show a rather cheap-looking ocean; sharp focus on the foreground and a very, very soft, almost hey-I-was-rendered-later background. Coming from the same stock as the SFX of 300, I honestly expected much better. Sounds were good though, as well as the visuals of battle scenes. Large scorpions spawned by Hades? Very cool. Medusa's visuals were also poor to be honest; I thought we've seen the end of amateur-looking 3D characters that was in old sword-and-sandal films such as The Mummy Returns (BUT I love TMR1 and TMR2 so I shall stay silent on those). I was willing to let this go due to the many creative ways the protagonists all tried to kill Medusa, with (duh) Perseus the only man left standing.

Looking at the theatrical release poster, I believe that the shot was chosen specifically to signify a turning point in the plot. The quest to kill Medusa literally obliterated the other heroes - and I commend the director for getting the audience to be fond of the supporting cast of Perseus, as evidenced by groans when they started dying off - and ensured that Perseus plays the classic 'lone Ranger' and complete his quest alone; not even his loyal Io (who was simply gorgeous) survives.

Plot development was way too linear in my opinion. It was a very predictable movie with absolutely neither twists nor turns to stimulate much in mental thinking. To put it simply, the general plot goes something like: Hero born. Hero suffers. Hero goes on quest. Hero meets band of warriors. Hero and warriors go on quest. Warriors die off. Hero remains. Hero meets final monster. Hero rescues princess. Hero gets the glory and the girl (but she's not the princess ;)). Linear, and dare I say, boring storyline. I am betting big bucks that's not what many in the cinema were searching for anyway. LOL.

A relatively alright movie if one is seeking a classic action story coupled with some sick fight scenes. I would not recommend it to fans of serious epics such as LOTR or even funnies like The Mummy Returns. I seriously don't. I find Clash of the Titans (itself a misleading title; it should be The Clash of Man versus Gods, or Man versus Gods. LOL, I kid) a confused movie stuck between providing a visual masterpiece (not quite as pretty as Avatar) and providing a gripping plot (ROFL). In so doing, it failed itself twice which is a pity since from the outset it looked to be a very promising action film to kick off summer. Cheesy lines and cheap environmental visuals aside, this is still an acceptably visual movie with some Greek history thrown in for the kicks.

In under no circumstance must you watch this movie in 3D. Firstly, 3D is just a ploy to get you to pay more anyway. Secondly, this was never shot in 3D; it was shot in 2D and then converted into 3D. The effects are rumored to be very messy and lost. I say don't risk it. There's nothing cool about wasting money. It's pretty enough in 2D.

7/10

Jay~