# Clash of the Titans - In Theaters - Box Office Review



## Dale Rasco (Apr 11, 2009)

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=3815&w=o[/img]* Title: Clash of the Titans
Starring: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Flemyng, Alexa Davalos
Directed by: Louis Leterrier
Written by: Travis Beachman, Phil Hay
Studio: Warner Bros.
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 106 Minutes
Release Date: 4/1/2010*
*Movie* :1.5stars: 
I guess the old adage is true, you really don’t know what is there, until it isn’t there anymore. I was 9 years old when the original Clash of the Titans came to theaters in 1981. I had all of the toys and was very much into the sword and sorcery movies of the time like ‘Sword and the Sorcerer’, ‘Conan’, Etc. Yes, my parents dropped me off and bought my ticket to Conan, it was a much different time back then. At the time I wasn’t that impressed with Clash of the Titans, it was alright but not great. Over the years I have come to appreciate it more for its charm as a legitimate hero steps forward to go on an epic journey to battle with monsters created by gods and rescue the woman he loves. It is in this context in which the new version of the classic story monumentally fails. 

The new Clash of the Titans sticks to the general idea of the original movie in that the ancient Greek gods have cursed the city of Argos for the disrespect and arrogance they have shown toward the gods. Now Perseus (Worthington) must find a way to defeat the Kraken and rescue Andromeda (Davalos), the princess of our tale. That is where the similarities in the story end as the filmmakers took several liberties, most of which I think really did more harm than good. 

The first change in our story is that the enemy is no longer Thetis played originally by Maggie Smith but instead Hades (Fiennes), god of the underworld. In this version, Hades kills Perseus’ family while they are out fishing. Second and perhaps more impactful to the story, Perseus is no longer on a quest to find a way to stop the Kraken to save the woman he loves but is actually on a quest to extract revenge on Hades for killing his family; saving the princess is just part of the plan and there is no longer a love story between Andromeda and Perseus. Another change involves Calibos (Flemyng) who is no longer the son of Thetis and an outcast deformed by Zeus for killing his heard/flock of flying horses but a former King and Perseus’ step father who is seeking revenge on Zeus (Neeson) for impregnating his former wife. Really?:dontknow: [img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=3818&w=o[/img] 


All of these changes to the story cast a shadow of misery over the entire movie that it never recovers from. Most of the performances are forgettable as the cast appears to just be going through the motions. Worthington’s performance as Perseus could have been plucked from last year’s Terminator: Salvation as his delivery comes across stoic, brooding and unfortunately leaves the viewer feeling uninterested in anything that happens to his anti-hero persona. Sadly, most of the characters suffer from this same plight. In 2010, Zeus is a demanding, unforgiving and selfish creator of man that wants to punish mankind like children for not worshipping him enough and not the caring proud father that Lawrence Olivier presented in 1981. Calibos is now a scarred King that is presented as a victim of Zeus’ wrath and is now in fact Perseus’ stepfather and not the deformed jealous ex-suitor for Andromeda’s affections. On the bright side, Medusa still has snakes for hair.:T It really all plays out more like a very bad anti-hero action movie than an epic story that is set in Greek mythology and I for one regret having to sit through it.

This was such a frustrating development to have to watch unfold because every other aspect of this film was superbly presented. The special effects, set designs and sound design were absolutely top notch and should be commended. I do wish I would have decided to see the standard 2D instead of the 3D as I felt it would have been a better experience….But not by much. 

*Rating* 
Rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence, some frightening images and brief sensuality. The creatures could be frightening to very young viewers but I didn’t see anything that offended me in any way.

*Video* :4stars:
The picture looks great with a lot of detail throughout the movie. The detail that was put into the Stygian witches, the Kraken, Medusa and the other creatures were everything that they could be and the landscapes were epic and truly eye candy material. If done right, the Bluray release should be close to reference material quality. But someone else will have to do that one as I don’t plan on watching this one again.























*Audio* :4stars:
The sound was immersive and full. There was plenty of surround activity throughout the movie from the ocean scenes to the many battle scenes and especially active during the Medusa scene. Low frequencies were given plenty of attention as well via the giant scorpions, the Kaken and the ocean sequences. Again, the Bluray release should be something to hear if the audio is done correctly. 

*Overall* :2stars: 
Clash of the Titans has all of the critical elements that it needs to be an excellent movie. It has a story that is lucid and coherent, an impressive cast of actors and outstanding special effects and CGI. Unfortunately what it doesn’t have is a soul. There is just something so lifeless about the whole thing that it just grinds on and on until you find yourself anxiously waiting for the ending so you can leave. I so wanted to like this movie that I made it a point not to watch the original until after seeing this one in theaters because I didn’t want to have an overly biased opinion and wanted to give this retelling a chance to stand on its own. But it was apparent on the faces of my family and the head shaking of the other movie goers when we left the theater that this wasn’t just a problem for me. This could have been a really good movie but in the end it isn't. Pretty to look at, but no heart.


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## Dave Upton (Aug 4, 2009)

*Re: Clash of the Titans - Box Office Review*

Great review Dale - you've saved me from wasting money on seeing this one.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

*Re: Clash of the Titans - Box Office Review*

Wow.... I am shocked at the low rating. The previews look great for this movie. I will definitely watch it myself. I have never seen it before, so that won't skew my opinion of it. I am really looking forward to it.


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## Dale Rasco (Apr 11, 2009)

*Re: Clash of the Titans - Box Office Review*



Sonnie said:


> Wow.... I am shocked at the low rating. The previews look great for this movie. I will definitely watch it myself. I have never seen it before, so that won't skew my opinion of it. I am really looking forward to it.


That's a good point that I haven't considered Sonnie. People who have never watched the original may not think it is near as bad as I did. It is visually outstanding looking film, and the sound is just as good. I would be interested to get your take on it after seeing it.


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## RBTO (Jan 27, 2010)

*Re: Clash of the Titans - Box Office Review*

Excellent review Dale. I happened to go to _Clash of the Titans_ before I read your review and wasn't too impressed. I rate the overall picture on a par with the old one. It was a bit campy and some of the action scenes were too fast and flashy (the style being used a lot nowadays). My main comment is if you see it, don't bother with the 3D version!!! I'm pretty big on 3D and some features that have been released lately are excellent in 3D. This isn't one of them. _Clash of the Titans_ was shot in 2D and computerized 3D was introduced in post production, the equivalent of "colorization" of the old vintage B & W movies. It leaves a lot to be desired. The post processing of 3D introduced a lot of artifacts including bodies that look 3 feet thick, head shots that have really strange edge effects (as if you could see around the edge contours, parts that shouldn't be visible), bulging faces, and 2D backgrounds with 3D objects in them. The 3D was really done poorly. Some of these artifacts show in _Alice in Wonderland_, which was post 3D, but they were much more subtle in that movie. I think the show seen in 2D would have been more easily appreciated and many of the special effects were fairly good. There was an effort at veiled humor in places that fell flat. Two characters that joined the group in search of Medusa's head were intended to be comedy relief, but they were only seen occasionally with no development given their characters, and one cameo appearance in the show was the mechanical owl from the older version, which no one would have noticed without seeing the previous production. I would rate it a "_see if you're interested but don't go out of your way to see it_" rating, and definitely don't wait for the 3D BD disk version!


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## Peter Rygiel (Jan 21, 2010)

*Re: Clash of the Titans - Box Office Review*

I also think Worthington's performance was pretty generic.

Watching this movie in 3D was more annoying than beneficial. I think I've had it with 3D It seems to be becoming a gimmick rather than something that actually enhances he movie experience. 

imdb.com has the movie at 106 minutes, you have the runtime at 150 minutes. Did you make a mistake, because I saw the film and it definitely wasn't 2 1/2 hours long.


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## Dale Rasco (Apr 11, 2009)

*Re: Clash of the Titans - Box Office Review*

Thanks Peter, I clocked it at 105 minutes and obviously my dyslexia took over when I was typing. :doh: Then again, maybe it just felt like 150 minutes.


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## lsiberian (Mar 24, 2009)

*Re: Clash of the Titans - Box Office Review*



dsr7997 said:


> Thanks Peter, I clocked it at 105 minutes and obviously my dyslexia took over when I was typing. :doh: Then again, maybe it just felt like 150 minutes.


I hope it didn't feel like 150 minutes lol. I am seeing it tonight.


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## Dale Rasco (Apr 11, 2009)

*Re: Clash of the Titans - Box Office Review*

I'm sure it was the dyslexia and hopefully my review painted such a bleak picture that anything will be better than the expectation. :T


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## RBTO (Jan 27, 2010)

*Re: Clash of the Titans - Box Office Review*



> Watching this movie in 3D was more annoying than beneficial. I think I've had it with 3D It seems to be becoming a gimmick rather than something that actually enhances he movie experience.



Peter, Please don't judge 3D by this movie's presentation. This is present day 3D at its worst. _Clash of the Titans_ was already in production when 3D started showing up in features like _UP_ and others, and someone made the decision to _*convert*_ it to 3D for profit reasons. 3D post conversion is much cheaper than native 3D and some productions have chosen it for that reason. I'm going to have to think about going to post 3D shows twice from now on because they certainly leave something to be desired. _Alice in Wonderland_ wasn't bad, but _Avatar_ which was shot in native 3D put _Clash of the Titans _to shame. All of the computer generated 3D features such as _UP, Monsters vs Aliens, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs_, have pretty good 3D. The 3D is actually created in the computer along with its wire frame modeling and is substantially different from post 3D like _Clash of the Titans_.

Anyway don't be too harsh to judge based on this fiasco.


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## celica_pete21 (Aug 27, 2009)

*Re: Clash of the Titans - Box Office Review*

Yeah, I read a story on how this movie might just ruin 3D for some people. Saying if every movie in 3D looks similar to this, 3D will die very quickly. A lot of my friends are ready to see it a second time, they loved it (all of them too young to have seen the original). I have never seen the original either, so I'm interested to see if that is the big difference in all the mixed reviews. Because I've heard and read so many being good and bad.


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## Dale Rasco (Apr 11, 2009)

*Re: Clash of the Titans - Box Office Review*

"Yeah, I read a story on how this movie might just ruin 3D for some people." Now I am concerned that since Clash of the Titans was my first 3D experience it might have been a bigger cause of my dislike for this movie than I originally recognized. I am tempted to go back and see it in 2D to be sure I am not being overly critical of the movie and not critical enough of the 3D.


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