Plot Summary
The Good
The Bad
Judgment
Closing
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Introduction
Clash of the Titans is a rather curious movie. Definitely all Hollywood with its CGI and key male-demographic-type writing, but before judgment is made, let's weigh its case.
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Plot Summary
After the gods won a war with the titans, their parents, one of the gods (Zeus, Liam Neeson) makes humanity so that their prayers can power the gods' immortality. However, humanity eventually gets frustrated with the gods' unresponsiveness and decides that it would be better off without them.
Enter the movie's hero, Perseus (Sam Worthington), the son of Zeus and the unnamed wife of Acrisius, erstwhile king of Argos. Acrisius is virulently anti-gods, so when he finds out that his son is Zeus' he demands that both his "befouled" wife and his bastard son be killed. But Perseus survives and is raised by a foster family of humble profession (fisherman).
Perseus winds up back in Argos where he meets Andromeda, hears Hades (Ralph Fiennes) threaten the city with the kraken because of the queen Cassiopeia's boasting of Andromeda's beauty, and winds up looking for a way to defeat the kraken. He's helped along his way by a cast of characters, including a mysterious woman named Io (Gemma Arterton) who has watched over him from his youth. Perseus succeeds, Andromeda is saved, and he becomes king, though he refuses to indulge his divine nature by joining Zeus in Olympus.
To its credit, the movie's plot follows the original myth of Perseus and Andromeda more or less properly. Aside from some details, the biggest change is that Perseus relies much less on divine help in the film. Names are also changed, mostly for the convenience of pronunciation and coherency, I imagine. After all, how can an audience member be expected to make out ancient Greek names over the sound of themselves chewing handfuls of popcorn?
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The Good
Although they aren't strong enough to carry the movie alone, this flick puts forth two good characters.
Perseus himself is interesting because he isn't just some "chosen one" who struggles with his being chosen, but he actively works to do as much as he can "as a man" - refusing to take advantage of his divinity. When he does take advantage of that side of his nature, he doesn't exactly go through a conflict of conscience, but, the movie deserves some points for effort. Especially since main characters in this genre have a tendency toward a flatness that rivals a carpenter's level on an empty office desk.
The other character worth watching for is Io. Although her back story is altered from her myth, she's still given one, and one that acknowledges the rapacious nature of the gods. As Perseus' guide throughout much of the adventure she's fairly well-defined and *spoilers* when she's killed */spoilers* it comes as a real blow.
This impact comes because Io's one of the more developed characters in the movie and partially because there's not much else with the depth of her relationship with Perseus. Unfortunately, this impact is practically reversed when Zeus himself reverses her story's twist at the end of the movie.
Since Immortals is a movie in a similar vein, though for whatever reason not in as rich a portion of that vein, as Clash of the Titans, it's also to this movie's credit that it outdoes Immortals in two key areas.
First, Clash of the Titans acknowledges the fact that the gods are the titans' children, and accurately shows the kinds of mythological dealings that go on between the gods themselves. Second, Clash of the Titans is superbly lit. Rather than every scene being dark and drear with lots of grays and browns and blacks, this movie has bright forests, a dank underworld, and a shimmering Olympus.
The idea that prayers feed the gods' immortality is cool, and its nicely complemented by Hades' being fed by humanity's fear.
The animations that accompany Hades are also really well done - from his smoky black wings, to the blue flames that take over the regular orange ones when he enters a fire-lit room.
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The Bad
However, the animation falls apart elsewhere. The giant scorpion monsters that Perseus and his friends fight, for example, look like they're green screened in at some points - they look like they're separate from the actors rather than interacting with them. Likewise, the Stygian Witches' shared eye, looks less like a goopy orb than it does a ball of organized white, red, and black yarn.
The movie's plot offers nothing new, and though it's expansive scope puts it on par with John Carter, Clash of the Titans falls short of really having much "pulp appeal."
The major reason for this lack is the movie's utter failure to make us care about princess Andromeda. She's seen giving Perseus some water, giving some bread to the poor, and being chained up for the kraken to snack on, and that's it. While Perseus is off questing for a way to beat the kraken, shouldn't she be talking about her imminent death with her father? Maybe the unnamed religious fanatic could have some interaction with her?
Moreover, in Hades' original threat, the kraken isn't what needs to be sacrificed to, the kraken is what comes if there is no sacrifice. Hanging Andromeda out for the kraken just as the beast is lurching from the sea should only be putting a tidbit out for it before it gorges itself on the city.
In fact, that is the movie's biggest failing. The fate of Argos hangs in the balance, but the audience is given no real reason to care if Argos is destroyed or not, and further, if Andromeda is eaten or not.
Too much time is spent with Perseus and his companions on their journey and not nearly enough is spent back at the city with the princess. While they're on the road, Perseus and his gang hardly even talk about Argos - there isn't even a line like "What was life like back in Argos?" or "Why's King Kepheus so eager to turn away from the gods?"
Perseus is as much of an outsider as we are, and yet he seems entirely indifferent about the place that he's saving. As such, the audience can't help but follow suit.
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Judgment
Clash of the Titans has slick production values and is acted like your standard episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, but the story’s cast of characters is like that in a big old RPG. However, unlike classic console RPGs that have characters and story going for them, Clash of the Titans has neither. Not consistently anyway.
The plot is poorly constructed, and aside from the slight variation in Perseus' character from other "chosen ones" and the interesting portrayal of Io, the movie really has nothing to offer but a few cool pieces of animation, refreshingly varied lighting, and a neat explanation of the purpose of prayer.
Unfortunately, even if these details were laid on an altar and ritualistically burned, no god's wrath would be appeased. So, Freya, fly high, and worry not about this one, though it offers a pretty face and mesmerizing eyes, its arms are weak and its purpose flabby. There are better picks for film Valhalla.
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Closing
Keep an eye (or both) on this blog - next Monday it'll host a logical look at wind power in Ontario, Wednesday there'll be a blog entry on the newest news, and on Friday a write-up on the good in The Darkest Hour will be up for the reading.
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