Crash of the Titans

I didn't expect much from Clash of the Titans. I didn't even expect to see it. That's not to say I thought the projector would malfunction before rolling the reel, but I didn't think I'd make an effort to go to the theater to watch it. I found myself in a Regal with my free small soda on an impulse.

The film had everything necessary for an epic journey: a maiden in distress, various environments and locations, strange creatures and many obstacles to overcome. It had everything except direction. The protagonist, Perseus, wanders about, only knowing his next nearest destination. As soon as he arrives at any of his destination, he is promptly directed to go elsewhere. With a hearty, "Ok, let's go!" his party is off to the next stop, where they will again receive new instructions for the next leg of their journey.

The trip is held together weakly by young Perseus's desire to avenge his adopted family's incidental death at the hands of the lord of the underworld, Hades who punishes some men who toppled the tower of Zeus. In order to exact his revenge, he must kill the spawn of Hades, the Kraken, which will weaken Hades just enough to kill. Yeah...

Equally as weak as the plot is the arc of every character in the film. Not only is Perseus a novice fighter, but a novice leader as well, but a group of soldiers accompanies him on his journey. They despise him at first, but like him later for some inexplicable reason. He leads them into certain death time and time again and they certainly die, handfuls at a time. His fighting skill improve considerable after one lesson, and improve exponentially when he wields the sword that Zeus leaves for him. Zeus's actions in the film require more explanation. At first he wants Perseus's quest stopped, but his fatherly love for his bastard son causes him to aid Perseus on his mission. This sentimentality is understandable, but it grew by leaps and bounds without much visual or narrative ques to Zeus's arc.

It's not visually stunning in the same way Lord of the Rings or The Fall (which, if you have not seen, you must) took an audience's breath away. Most of the locations are uninspired. The entrance to the underworld is pretty cool though. It's mostly a "been there, seen that" movie. I'd like to advise you to give this one a rent when it comes out on DVD. But really, you wouldn't be missing much.