Two years ago, I eagerly anticipated the release of the remake of one of my favourite films of all time, "Clash of the Titans." What I was given was a mess of a film in bad post-production 3D which needlessly messed with the original story of Perseus and his defeat of the Kraken...and turned my beloved Pegasus black.
When a follow-up was announced, being a huge fan of all Mythology, even if it is tweaked for Hollywood's sake, I felt they could only improve on a second attempt after the epic failure of the first go-around.
I was wrong.
"Wrath of the Titans" picks up a decade later with Perseus raising his only son alone after dismissing Zeus' offer of riches and power after his heroic defeat of the Kraken and the unexplained death of his wife (who I would have thought would have been Io but should really be Andromeda but remained unaddressed). As mortals lose their faith in the gods, the gods in turn lose more and more of their power and, consequently, the walls which imprison the Titans in Tartarus are weakening and the end of days is imminent.
Zeus turns to his son to warn him of the threat and ask his help, but Persues declines.
That is until he learns from Poseidon that Zeus' other son, Ares, turned against him and led him into a trap in Tartarus and Zeus is imprisoned by Hades , transferring all Zeus' power to Kronos, the leader of the Titans and Zeus' father, in exchange for immortality.
And thus, Perseus learns that in order to save humanity, he must rescue his father and defeat Kronos and teams with Poseidon's demi-god son Agenor and Queen Andromeda who, as I mentioned, by all accounts and purposes, should already be his wife.
The story itself has much potential, but sadly, the execution just falls flat. With far too many convenient twists and escapes, even by Mythology's standards, I found the events extremely difficult to swallow, the narrative being even too ridiculous for the likes of me. The whole film just sort of stumbles along like an adventure in special effects, with the actual storytelling as somewhat of a secondary element. Something which is becoming far too common these days.
Even though it has just been a couple of years since Sam Worthington was thrust into the spotlight in "Avatar" and the last Titan film, he looks like he has aged two decades, having lost all of the sexy, hard-bodied spunk that is befitting a demi-god. He was a relatively unconvincing Perseus the first time around, and the sequel just confirms the notion.
Everyone else's performance, including the return of Liam Neeson as Zeus, Danny Huston as Poseidon and Ralph Fiennes as Hades, are just fine, but acceptable performances in a mediocre film hardly lessen the disappointment.
After having been so mortified by the disrespect "Clash of the Titans" showed the original production, one wouldn't think it could get worse. But at least that film aroused some sort of emotional reaction in me. The sequel didn't even manage to do that. It simply disappointed. No doubt I may be first in line for the third installment, already currently in pre-production, as hope always prevails...but that may be tentative while what will most assuredly be mediocre box office could throw a spanner in the works.
But hey, at least the 3D was better.
When a follow-up was announced, being a huge fan of all Mythology, even if it is tweaked for Hollywood's sake, I felt they could only improve on a second attempt after the epic failure of the first go-around.
I was wrong.
"Wrath of the Titans" picks up a decade later with Perseus raising his only son alone after dismissing Zeus' offer of riches and power after his heroic defeat of the Kraken and the unexplained death of his wife (who I would have thought would have been Io but should really be Andromeda but remained unaddressed). As mortals lose their faith in the gods, the gods in turn lose more and more of their power and, consequently, the walls which imprison the Titans in Tartarus are weakening and the end of days is imminent.
Zeus turns to his son to warn him of the threat and ask his help, but Persues declines.
That is until he learns from Poseidon that Zeus' other son, Ares, turned against him and led him into a trap in Tartarus and Zeus is imprisoned by Hades , transferring all Zeus' power to Kronos, the leader of the Titans and Zeus' father, in exchange for immortality.
And thus, Perseus learns that in order to save humanity, he must rescue his father and defeat Kronos and teams with Poseidon's demi-god son Agenor and Queen Andromeda who, as I mentioned, by all accounts and purposes, should already be his wife.
The story itself has much potential, but sadly, the execution just falls flat. With far too many convenient twists and escapes, even by Mythology's standards, I found the events extremely difficult to swallow, the narrative being even too ridiculous for the likes of me. The whole film just sort of stumbles along like an adventure in special effects, with the actual storytelling as somewhat of a secondary element. Something which is becoming far too common these days.
Even though it has just been a couple of years since Sam Worthington was thrust into the spotlight in "Avatar" and the last Titan film, he looks like he has aged two decades, having lost all of the sexy, hard-bodied spunk that is befitting a demi-god. He was a relatively unconvincing Perseus the first time around, and the sequel just confirms the notion.
Everyone else's performance, including the return of Liam Neeson as Zeus, Danny Huston as Poseidon and Ralph Fiennes as Hades, are just fine, but acceptable performances in a mediocre film hardly lessen the disappointment.
After having been so mortified by the disrespect "Clash of the Titans" showed the original production, one wouldn't think it could get worse. But at least that film aroused some sort of emotional reaction in me. The sequel didn't even manage to do that. It simply disappointed. No doubt I may be first in line for the third installment, already currently in pre-production, as hope always prevails...but that may be tentative while what will most assuredly be mediocre box office could throw a spanner in the works.
But hey, at least the 3D was better.