Have you ever watched a film and thought, hey that wasn’t bad, and on your way home tore it apart and thought: what a waste of money? Clash of the Titans is in that category.
Since Hollywood is on this fear induced kick to keep producing remakes and adaptations, it was only a matter of time until this classic was given the CG redo. We, as the audiences, are forced to watch films that rely more on gimmicks to attend the theaters. Clash has all of those things. Superstar cast, dazzling computer generated effects and the industry’s newest toy, 3D. These studios seem to be more interested in how to impress us with their new technological achievements and not with their abilities to tell a moving story. Clash is tragically a victim of that.
This is no doubt that this is a retelling of the Greek myth of Perseus. Although many will complain that it takes liberties with the story. Well, of course it does, it’s a myth and never was reality, so it can’t really be too far off from the story that never was set in stone. All be it we have had thousands of years of telling this story and the best our society can come up with is the two hour popcorn fest that came out this weekend? It’s sad really.
Sam Worthington (Avatar) does a fine job as Perseus, but that is just the thing he doesn’t do anything that shows us he is capable of range, although nothing in this film would have demanded that of him. Liam Neeson (Taken) and Ralph Fiennes (Harry Potter) were token big name actors to fill the roles of “Gods” or as the audience would see them, men in shiny armor. This simple plot was easy enough for a Sunday school attendant to understand. Humans no longer need the gods to worship, the gods need human worship to survive, the gods threaten humans into servitude, demigod counters their threat. Really, it’s Christianity in Greek clothing. It’s damn right offensive.
One other note in regards to offensive was the use of the Djinn. Djinn are from the Islamic faith and had nothing to do with Greek myths but the writers put them in to play a very offensive joke on the Islamic culture in regards to jihadist. The scene of sacrifice was shocking in a very politically incorrect way that even offended non-Muslims, but will probably be lost on most.
In short, Clash of the Titans is an enjoyable film if all you are looking for is something pretty to look at when trying to escape the day to day. If you are looking for anything else than that, look elsewhere, the creators of this film did not have you in mind, there for you should have them in mind when you seek to spend your hard earned money on real entertainment.
Rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence, some frightening images and brief sensuality.
