Plot: What’s it about?
It’s amazing what the human mind can recall. For the sake of this review, my mind is recalling an eight year old me seeing the original “Clash of the Titans” at a movie theater in Wichita, Kansas with my brother and parents. I don’t really remember too terribly much about the plot, but I do remember that seeing Medusa scared the living daylights out of me (and, in many ways, it still does). Still, stories of Gods and Goddesses aren’t exactly the most original out there and since they weren’t, well, real, it’s amazing what liberties can be taken with these characters. But, for some reason, the powers that be decided to brush off a “classic” and give it a spin in the 21st century. And, to be honest, I did find myself digging the film a few times though it surprised me as much as anyone.
For anyone out there who’s not familiar with the plot, it’s not exactly that hard to follow. The illegitimate son of Zeus (Liam Neeson), Perseus (Sam Worthington), was raised as a mortal even though he’s a demigod. Hades (Ralph Fiennes), the brother of Zeus, has had it with being lord of the underworld and is set to unleash the Kraken (yes, the same monster and name from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films) upon Earth. If Hades’ plan succeeds, then he will reclaim his rightful position among the gods. The real problem is that humanity is losing faith in the gods and it’s not making them too happy. So Perseus, along with a rag tag group of supporters, must set off to destroy the Kraken and thereby save humanity along the way. And he’ll accept no help from his “father”, by the way!
As much as I wanted to dislike “Clash of the Titans”, I do admit that it was somewhat fun to watch. Even more impressive is that Sam Worthington has now completed a hat trick of blockbusters including last summer’s “Terminator: Salvation”, “Avatar” and now “Clash of the Titans.” Is this guy the hardest working actor in Hollywood? No telling, but he’s one of them (and I’m sure his bank account is reflective of his recent efforts). While not everything is paralleled to the original, it is a remake for all intents and purposes. The film was also a modest success at the box office late last spring raking in about $165 million to date. So while I don’t think there will be a “Clash of the Titans II”, stranger things have happened. If you’re in the mood for a guilty pleasure or just clamoring for a Ralph Fiennes/Liam Neeson reunion (they were last seen in 1993’s “Schindler’s List”) then this is for you.
Video: How does it look?
While the plot of the film didn’t change to much over the last three decades, movies have come a very long way in regards to how they’re shot and the visual effects. I still remember the stop motion animation of the original and that’s been replaced by the CGI that’s so prevalent in pretty much any film today. The 2.40:1 VC-1 HD transfer is flat out amazing with fine details looking like you could reach out and touch them. A majority of the movie takes place outside and the earthy tones tend to dominate. We see the sun-drenched skin of Perseus as well as the ivory face of characters like Io (Gemma Arterton), a character “cursed” with agelessness. Contrast is strong and though I did catch a bit of softness in a few scenes, this delivers pretty much exactly what I thought it would.
Audio: How does it sound?
Just as impressive as the video is the DTS HD Master Audio mix. Any movie involving gods and goddesses, lightning bolts and underwater sea creatures set out to level the earth will undoubtedly have a pretty robust soundtrack associated with it. Certainly “Clash of the Titans” is one of those films that was made for guys wanting to crank the volume up as much as they can. Dialogue is very clear and clean, despite the fact that most everyone associated with the film is Eurpoean in nature this “American” movie delivers on an audio level. LFE are very active as are the surrounds, that seem to almost always humming about something.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This is probably one of Warner’s bigger Blu-ray’s of 2010 and we do get a pretty good selection of supplements. We start out with the “Maximum Movie Mode” in which we get a picture-in-picture commentary with thoughts and comments from the filmmakers and some behind the scenes footage. I have to admit that this mode for watching a movie is fairly interesting, though I’d advise you see the film first as the volume is muted from the movie and the picture tends to move around the screen. We also get some featurettes focusing on the more technical aspects of the film such as the CGI used to create Medusa, the Scorpiochs (large scorpion type things that are both heroes and villains in the film) as well as some details on the filming locations. There’s a feature on Sam Worthington as the filmmakers praise him and his work in this (and other) films. Lastly, we get a special alternate ending that’s still in somewhat of a rough format. I personally preferred the theatrical ending and evidently the filmmakers did as well. Some additional scenes are shown and there’s a digital copy of the film on a separate disc.
