Clash of the Titans (2010)
Directed by Louis Letterier
Written by Travis Beacham, Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi
Starring Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Jason Flemyng, Mads Mikkelsen
Release Date April 2nd, 2010
Published April 2nd, 2010
The makers of “Clash of the Titans” were torn. On the one hand, some wanted to make a massive action blockbuster from a well remembered property. On the other hand, a more realistic faction saw what was there and realized how truly cheese ball the whole enterprise is. The battle between these two sides has helped deliver a seriously goofy mélange of self serious action scenes and a whole lot of goofball preening, posing and speechifying.
Sam Worthington stars in Clash as Perseus, the son of Zeus. Perseus doesn't know he is the son of the God until he is grown and working with the man he assumes is his father as a fisherman. When his father, mother and young sister are killed by Zeus's brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes) Perseus decides to take up arms against the gods.
Perseus joins a fight already begun by the armies of the coastal city Athos lead by Draco (Madds Mikkelson). Together, with a small band of brave warriors they set out to find some way to kill the Kraken, the ancient deadly spawn of Hades set upon Athos by an angry Zeus (Liam Neeson) in vengeance for the insolence of humanity.
Never mind that Zeus started the fight. In revenge for not getting enough love from humanity, Zeus came to earth cloaked as King Acrisius (Jason Flemyng) and impregnated the King's wife. Perseus was the result of this Jerry Springer style act of vengeance. Now, that man and God are at war it falls to Perseus to stop the destruction of mankind.
“Clash of the Titans” is one bizarre, goofball effort. The special effects range from impressive looking to a bad parody of the work of Ray Harryhausen from the original Clash. The direction of Louis Letterier runs the gamut as well from pro level technique to the highest of high camp. Letterier seems to have been the most conflicted among the creators of “Clash of the Titans” having approached the material with serious intent before succumbing to bad kitsch.
The worst victim of the kitsch is Liam Neeson whose Zeus is garbed in Liberace's battle armor, a Viking beard and Barbara Walters back lighting through most of his scenes. Add to that the awful storyline that essentially boils down to a God having revenge sex with a guy’s wife and you have one utterly laughable character.
Less laughable and more unfortunate is the one note performance of star Sam Worthington. Though Hollywood has decided that Worthington is the next big thing off of his starring roles in “Terminator Salvation” and “Avatar” the young actor has yet to deliver one single memorable moment on screen. Stoic and handsome, Worthington is intensely bland. He looks like about a dozen other guys Hollywood has tried to turn into movie stars and failed.
In “Clash of the Titans” Worthington is so sleepy and monosyllabic you may be forgiven for mistaking him at time for scenery. Worthington's facial expressions never change whether he is menaced by giant scorpions or worrying over a mortally wounded ally, Worthington's blank slate never changes. His eyes are so vacant you begin to worry if somewhere during shooting, Worthington's soul vacated his body and left behind some human machine shell.
The biggest issue with “Clash of the Titans” is what I can only presume is a behind the scenes battle over the vision of what the film should be. Some eagerly embraced the kitsch and fed into it while others fought to make Clash an earnest blockbuster action movie. The battle created one seriously awful movie as a result.
