Warner Bros. | 2010 | 106 min | Rated PG-13
Hollywood loves remakes. With that understanding, it makes sense that someone in Tinseltown would come up with the idea to remake the beloved, but by no means classic, stop-motion-assisted action adventure Clash of the Titans, what with the amazing advancements that have been made in the field of special effects. However, not even the best effects can save a weak story, and this version of Titans doesn’t even have particularly memorable special effects. By the time the big shots of the Kraken arrive, it’s difficult to care about the gods or the humans. For anyone who knows the story, this is not a positive development.
Basically, no one in ancient Greece is very happy. The soldiers of Argos are angry at the gods, and decide to take out their frustrations by defiling a statue of Zeus (Liam Neeson). Meanwhile, the Gods aren’t taking too kindly to the disrespect shown mankind is showing their deities, so a furious Hades (Ralph Fiennes)–God of the Underworld, lashes out with his own brand of punishment. When all is said and done, one of the only survivors is Perseus (Sam Worthington), an innocent bystander who was fishing with his adopted family nearby and got caught in the middle of the chaos. Now with his parents and sister gone, Perseus is upset over the loss of his family and vows to avenge their deaths.
Lucky for Perseus, his opportunity comes quickly, when King Kepheus (Vincent Regan) and Queen Cassiopeia (Polly Walker) involve themselves and their daughter Andromeda (Alexa Davalos) in some blasphemous behavior, and an enraged Hades returns to unleash his wrath. This time, Hades presents the kingdom with an ultimatum: sacrifice the princess in ten days at the height of the eclipse, or else his monstrous creation known as the Kraken will tear down Argos. This is also where it is revealed that Perseus is actually a demigod — the son of Zeus. Although Perseus doesn’t really care about his true heritage or the fate of the city, as soon as he learns from a mysterious immortal named Io (Gemma Arterton) that Hades will be ripe for a beatdown if his sea beast is destroyed — he quickly signs up for the task.
The acting here is surprisingly second rate, with Neeson and Fiennes puffing up as much as they can, and strutting their best Irish and English accents, and Danish superstar Mads Mikkelsen playing the tough-guy general who leads the expedition. Unfortunately, all of them take their roles so seriously, there isn’t the least bit of humor throughout the picture. It should be noted as well, that the script is pretty lousy at times, and doesn’t have any of the underlying humor that could be could be found in the 1981 original.
CGI replaces stop-motion animation for the creatures in the new film. Is it really any better than what Harryhausen gave us in the original? Yes and no. Yes, it looks more natural, if you can call mythological beasts like Krakens, giant scorpions, the winged horse Pegasus, or the snake-headed woman Medusa natural. At least they’re not quite as herky-jerky as Harryhausen’s old creations. The trouble is that most of us have seen so many CGI beasts by now, there’s nothing new here to astound us; it’s just more of the same.
So, while I guess you can argue that that this remake simply offers more of the original Clash of the Titans updated for a new generation, I can easily say I would stick with the original. I reviewed the blu-ray release of the 1981 film a couple of months back. While that film definitely had its flaws, the script had humorous undertones and the actors didn’t seem to take themselves too seriously.
The VC-1 encoded 1080p presentation letterboxed to the film’s original 2.4:1 aspect ratio is a near flawless, film-like transfer. The range of contrast is spot-on with deep blacks and, other than a handful of sequences where heavenly lights or god-like sparkle on armor are intentionally introduced, non-blooming whites. The above-average look of the blu-ray is helped considerably by the director’s decision to shoot much of the outdoor action in spectacular real-world locations with occasional CG augmentation and extensions rather than in completely virtual environments.
The lossless English DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is reference-quality material. The film’s aggressive surround mix is repurposed well for a home theater near-field listening environment, and will likely have viewers checking behind and under their sofas and recliners for slithering beasties. Carefully handled dynamics insure that dialogue will be at an intelligible level both before and after The Kraken is released into a viewer’s family room or basement. The outstanding fidelity of the lossless encoding greatly benefits what may be my single favorite element of the movie: Ramin Djawadi’s rousing heroic score. Alternate 640 kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 language dubs are available in French, Spanish, and Portuguese.
The special features on this disc are all presented in 1080p VC-1 encoded video with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio unless otherwise indicated:
WB Maximum Movie Mode (108 minutes) is an elaborate visual commentary track that runs concurrently with the film on Blu-ray players equipped with “Bonusview” capability (Profile 1.1 or higher). Various windows open and close with video material moving to the foreground and background inclusive of the film itself to offer scene specific behind the scenes information and commentary. On a couple of occasions, it “pauses” the film to explore a specific shot a bit deeper than could be accomplished in real time, which is why it runs two minutes longer than the film itself. It also includes ten optional “Focus Point” branching featurettes that can be selected with the viewer’s DVD remote when an on-screen prompt appears. These feature additional information about specific topics relative to the point in the film where the on-screen prompt appears. Very little of the film passes by without some relevant commentary or behind the scenes material, inclusive of on-set footage, previsualization animatics, design and construction footage of props and sets, storyboards, raw production footage, visual effects progression reels, Costume and make-up design materials, creature design materials, locatioin scouting footage, pre-production walk-throughs of scenes, stunt team test footage, and pyro effects test footage.
Comments are provided by a broad spectrum of people involved with the production including Director Louis Leterrier, Producer Basil Iwanyk, Producer Kevin De La Noy, Sam Worthington (Perseus), Production Designer Martin Laing, Marine Coordinator Robin Davies, Visual Effects Supervisor Nick Davis, Writers Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, Liam Neeson (Zeus), Ralph Fiennes (Hades), MPC CG Supervisor Patrick Roos, MPC Visual Effects Supervisor Gary Brozenich, Gemma Arterton (Io), Make-up and Hair Designer Jenny Shircore, Costume Designer Lindy Hemming, Animal Coordinator Gill Raddings, Jason Flemyng (Calibos), Mads Mikkelson (Draco), Cinesite Visual Effects Supervisor Simon Stanley-Clamp, Character Designer Aaron Sims, Animatronics Senior Technician Peter Hawkins, Aerial Director of Photography Hans Bjerno, Prosthetics Supervisor Conor O’Sullivan, Armorer Nick Komororicki, Stunt Coordinator Paul Jennings, Special Effects Supervisor Neil Corbould, MPC Animation Supervisor Greg Fisher, and Alexa Davalos (Andromeda), and two unidentified extras who played Djinn.
Available separately from their context-specific “pop-up” appearance in Maximum Movie Mode, are ten Focus Points (35:02 w/”Play All”), which are a collection of brief behind the scenes featurettes viewable individually or through a “Play All” menu option. Details are as follows:
• Sam Worthington as Perseus (3:43) – Offers general praise for the film’s lead actor as well as Worthington’s thoughts on the film. On-camera comments are provided by Worthington, Iwanyk, Leterrier, and Flemyng
• Zeus: Father of Gods and Men (2:18) – Looks at the titular character as portrayed in the film by Liam Neeson as well as his armor and make-up. Comments are offered by Neeson, Leterrier, Iwanyk, and Hemming
• Enter the World of Hades (3:29) – Looks at the titular character as played by Ralph Fiennes as well as his costume, make-up and associated special effects. Comments are provided by Hemming, Leterrier, Iwanyk, Fiennes, Shircore, and Davis
• Calibos: The Man Behind the Monster (2:56) – Looks at the titular character as played in the film by Jason Flemyng with a lot of discussion of the heavy prosthetics required for the role. Comments are provided by Leterrier, Flemyng, O’ Sullivan, and Iwanyk
• Tenerife: A Continent on an Island (4:24) – Looks at the unique titular location with discussion of its diverse exotic environments. Comments are provided by Leterrier, De La Noy, Location Manager Terry Blyther, Supervising Location Manager Robin Higgs, Arterton, stunt performer Mark Mottram, Iwanyk, Mikkelson, Associate Producer Kevin McMillan, and Worthington
• Scorpioch (4:06) looks at the giant scorpion-like creatures in the film inclusive of pre-visualization, design, and integration of practical and digital effects. Comments are offered by Davis, Leterrier, Stabley-Clamp, Animation Supervisor Quentin Miles, Worthington, and Corbould
• Actors and Their Stunts (3:48) looks at the physical nature of many of the roles in the film and the degree to which the cast was enthusiastic about performing many of their own stunts. Comments are provided by Iwanyk, Worthington, Mikkelson, Leterrier, Jennings, Flemyng, Arterton, Mottram, and Davslos
• Wales: A Beautiful Scarred Landscape (2:31) – Looks at the Wales locations used in the film inclusive of the location scouting and comments on the constant rain encountered while shooting there. Comments are provided by Worthington, Iwanyk, Jennings, De La Noy, Flemyng, Arterton, and Letterrier
• Bringing Medusa to Life (3:47) – Looks at how the titular creature was brought to life on-screen inclusive of the Russian super-model Natalia Vodianova used for facial reference, the decision to kick-off the production by shooting the “Medusa’a lair” sequence, and a lot of discussion of the visual effects associated with the character and her snakes. Comments are offered by Leterrier, Iwanyk, Wortington, Jennings, De La Noy, Corbould, Laing, Davis, Framestore Visual Effects Supervisor Tim Webber, Framestore Lead Modeler Scott Eaton, and Framestore Animation Supervisor Max Solomon.
• Prepare for the Kraken (3:55) – Looks at the on-screen realization of the titular creature inclusive of early concepts, design, digital animation, water effects, and scale. Comments are offered by Leterrier, Sims, Davis, Fisher, Brozenich, and Roos.
Available separately from the Focus Points is a single additional featurette called Sam Worthington: An Action Hero for the Ages (7:56) which focuses on the film’s lead actor, his physical commitment to his roles in this and other films, and his willingness to do many of his own stunts. It consists of interviews and behind the scenes footage. The most interesting interview comments come form Worthington when he discusses how the “Bourne” films and “The Dark Knight” have changed audiences expectations for action films. The best behind the scenes footage involves one of the last shots of the film where Worthington performs a bungee leap on a green screen stage multiple times after Leterrier bets him money that they will have to use a stuntman for the shot. On-camera comments are provided by Iwanyk, Worthington, Leterrier, Jennings, Flemyng, and Arterton.
Alternate Ending (Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo – 5:23) – is an extended alternate conclusion that would have been even worse than the “Zeus ex machina” cop-out moment at the conclusion of the finished film. The worst mis-step is the insertion of a completely “unearned” romantic thread between Perseus and Andromeda. The film as is has a tendency to under-develop characters and relationships, but at least someone had the sense to figure out that it was a bad idea to try to introduce and sell the idea of a new romantic relationship in the film’s last five minutes. It is presented without finished digital effects.
A series of Deleted Scenes (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo – 18:11) are presented as a continuous reel without the ability to select them individually from the menu or chapter through them with the DD remote. The majority of the cuts come at the expense of a deleted sub-plot involving Apollo and a “meanwhile back in Argos” thread. Descriptions are as follows:
• Extended opening conference of the gods in Olympus (5:37)
• Io and Perseus Conversation in the forest (1:09)
• Apollo and Athena discuss Zeus (1:44)
• Andromeda and her handmaid Peshet discuss Perseus (:46)
• Extended arrival in Stygia sequence with additional exposition from Io (1:23)
• Apollo encourages Zeus to help Perseus and oppose Hades (1:25)
• Perseus discusses the Stygian witches’ prophecy with Io and is visited by Apollo [instead of Zeus, who is given most of Apollo’s dialog from this scene in the finished film] (2:40)
• Andromeda and Kepheus grieve over Cassiopeia (:34)
• A mob comes for Andromeda and she is betrayed by someone close to her (1:11)
• Extended Kaken release sequence inter-cutting additional scenes in Olympus (1:39)
The main menu also allows viewers to select a BD-Live option. This connects to Warner’s BD-Live portal, which includes the standard promotional features and “Host a Screening” functionality. At the time of this posting, it also included a couple of Clash of the Titans related items available in streaming SD video.
• Under the “Showcase” menu is the same Actors and their Stunts “Focus Point” featurette that appears on the disc.
• Under the heading of “Special Features” is International Special (approx. 23 minutes) which is a behind the scenes promotional piece likely intended to promote the film in a half hour television slot. Drawn from the same set of interviews that informed the on-disc extras, the broad range of topics include the film’s plot, characters, creatures, international cast, basis in mythology, production design, style, stunts, environments, locations, and digital effects. On-camera comments are provided by Iwanyk, Neeson, Leterrier, Fiennes, Worthington, Davalos, Mikkelson, Arterton, Flemyng, O’Sullivan, Laing, Hemming, De La Noy, Jennings, Corbould, Davis, Stanley-Clamp, Brozenich, and Roos.
SD DVD & Digital Copy – As is the case with all recent Warner BDs of theatrical new release titles, a separate disc is included with an SD DVD of the film and a digital copy. The DVD presentation is bare bones with the film in 16:9 enhanced widescreen video, English Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, available English SDH, French, or Spanish subtitles, no extras, and no chapter menu (although there are 17 chapter stops).
The digital copy is on-disc, and is compatible with either iTunes or Windows Media formats. It is unlocked through the use of a one-time password provided on a paper insert to the disc case.
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