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Right, so I just got back from the cinema after seeing Clash of the Titans in 2D. After seeing the teaser trailer, which looks and sounds great, I was looking forward to the film. I did have a few concerns that the trailer would show all of the best bits of the film, and that it would also rely very heavily on visual effects, which can be amazing or seriously unpleasant to look at if done wrong. Sadly my concerns were merited.
I will first mention why I actively chose to see this film in 2D over the 3D version that is also available. The film was originally filmed in 2D and later (a month or two before release) was turned into a 3D experience. There are a lot of reasons that this happened, but the main reason is money. Looking at the numbers coming from the Box Office, 3D films generate a lot more income than a 2D film being screened, for example the latest UK Box Office figures show that How to Train a Dragon 3D is achieving a much more lucrative opening week than Kick-Ass. These two films are aimed at completely different audiences, so they are not in direct competition, however the use of 3D and the extra ‘cost’ which is passed on to the viewer translates into a perceived higher viewing figures. I cannot compare the two versions of this film, as I haven’t seen the both versions, however it feels a bit wrong to see a film that was filmed in one format, and then heavily altered in post production to increase the sales figures but not necessarily the experience quality.
Ignoring from the small amount of integrity from the studio and just looking at the film, there was not a lot to redeem the film as a standalone feature. Firstly, with this type of film there is always going to be some major visual effects, unfortunately these could have been a lot better in my opinion. The Medusa character looked as though it came out of a game from a few years ago, the Scorpion monsters are completely unthreatening due to the lack of polish in the 3D modelling and character interaction, and finally the ‘Cracken’ is supposed to be the monster, created from Hades’ own flesh and designed to wreck havoc on the world, and yet whilst on screen for a good 15 minutes it failed to do much more then break some rocks off the edge of a cliff, and then was soon dispatched in a dramatic fashion back into the sea.
There were some things that struck me about the actual content of the film. The name for instance, Clash of the Titans. The Titans were the race of Greek Gods before the Olympians, who took over under the lead of Zeus. Also the only two Titans Olympians that ‘clash’ during the film, is a small exchange of harsh words between Zeus and his brother Hades, hardly the celestial encounter you would expect. There was also a Magical Sword that was forged on Mount Olympus and only useable by gods and demy-gods, which seem to give Perseus extra strength and gymnast style dexterity and the fighting ability of a gladiator, not bad for a fisherman’s son. This among other small plot devices really detracted from the flow of the film rather than adding to it and advancing the story. I think I actually laughed at how ridiculous some of the scenes were in the film, this might be due to me thinking that I would do things a bit differently in that situation, and then being proved right a few minutes later. Finally the dialogue in the film seems really forced, and every line feels like it is trying to be epic. There was only one character that had original lines, and they came mainly in the form of hilarious one-liners, which brought out a lighter more approachable side to the film, that was Solon played by Liam Cunningham.
So in summary, there is not a lot to redeem this film, there are some moments when the effects seemed to work, and some of the action scenes looked good. But these were sparse and were not enough to overcome the many distracting issues with this release. If you are looking for a Greek mythology film to watch, I would recommend trying some of the older films that are always on TV like Jason and the Argonauts, they take themselves a lot less seriously, and the special effects aren’t great but neither were the ones in this film. One redeeming feature I did find after chatting to someone, is that it does make you want to go on holiday, to some where nice and hot, although probably not 800BC Greese, as based on this film it would be less relaxing and more irritating.