Filim Review: Clash of the Titans (2010)

Clash of the Titans is an enjoyable popcorn film loosely based in Greek mythology. If you want a mindless action film, you might find yourself in trouble. It's not that this remake is some grand exercise in intelligent, subtle filmmaking; it's not. It's just laughably confusing and stuffed to the gills with unintended campy humor. I think. And understanding that requires a bit more effort than your average explosion fest.

Writers Travis Beacham, Phil Hay, and Matt Manfredi play fast and loose with mythology. Characters are given entirely new stories just because they can be. For example, Io--one of Zeus' many, many rape victims--is cursed with eternal youth in the film, when her actual story--turned into a heifer by Zeus in a failed attempt to hide his indiscretion from jealous wife Hera--is far more compelling. She also becomes the love interest of Perseus rather than Zeus and steals another common motif--woman cursed for denying Zeus' advances--for further characterization. Other strange story changing moments are the inclusion of Djinns--magic wielders of the desert using magical wooden limbs when injured--and the presumed regular appearance of entire colonies of glistening white flying horses.

In the Perseus story envisioned by director Louis Letterier, Perseus is a reluctant hero. He believes himself to be a man not even like any other; he is inferior, a lowly fisherman's assistant. When his family is killed by Hades, he is imprisoned in Argos, where everyone but him immediately knows he is a demi-god. It takes the arrival of Io to convince Perseus to go on his quest to defeat Hades and save beloved princess Andromeda from the unleashing of the kraken.

What follows is a unending series of battles and characterless faces. Only Perseus, Zeus, Hades, Io, and Andromeda receive any form of character development, the latter two only because the actresses try very hard to not be cardboard cutouts of mythology. Perseus' team fights giant scorpions, a former king, and Medusa. Perseus fights his self doubt. Io fights the screenwriter's intentions to strip her of clothing throughout the film, randomly appearing more covered up than some of the men throughout. And the citizens of Argos fight the concept of subtlety in the craft of acting, stretching and contorting their faces in unnatural displays of anger, fear, and grief every time they appear on screen.

Even with all of its faults, Clash of the Titans is the kind of film that will one day have a huge cult following. It will never reach the heights (depths?) of the work of Ed Wood or Roger Corman, but it could perhaps appear in the same category as a Running Man or Soylent Green--not a great film, but a horrible and fun film to watch. The flaws transform from a liability to an asset when they can so readily cause giant bouts of laughter in a packed theater.

To put it out there again on this blog: Sam Worthington is not a bad actor. If he ever gets a well-written screenplay to work with, he'll do fine. This was not that good screenplay. I don't know why, but there is something about his physicality in performance that's leading me to think he has a whole lot more inside him for a performance. I'm not recommending he jump ship from the action/epic mold he's in just yet. I'm just saying even Bruce Willis started as just an action/comedy guy and look at what he was capable of doing throughout his career with it.

And in the words of my brother, "tell them it's Avatar without blue people or good 3-D effects." Well said.