Wrath of the Titans (2012)

Why do people want to take the characters from Greek myth and make up different stories for them, particularly stupid and unoriginal ones like this? It's understandable in series like Xena, which run on so long they run out of sensible story ideas, but in a feature film?? Of course movies do change stories around, even with historical subjects, but this plot makes as much sense as having George Washington, trying to rescue Queen Elizabeth I who's been kidnapped by the Emperor Nero. Yes, it's that stupid.Almost nothing is good here. The casting is ridiculous, from Liam Neeson as a kind of Irish Zeus, who's been living in the USA a bit too long, on down. The acting ranges from bad to appalling, with even the likes of Edgar Ramirez as Ares (a ludicrous god to choose for chief bad guy – someone's been watching too much Xena, where at least they had Kevin Smith who could almost act) being way out-hammed by the ghastly scenery-chewing Rosamund Pike. Oh yes, and why did they take Andromeda on the adventure when she couldn't do anything at all (except over-act)? Of course – to have someone around to rescue – silly me! Even usually reliable folk like Bill Nighy seemed to have given up trying on this one.The story managed to be both silly and clichéd at the same time and contained nothing remotely of interest. The script was ghastly, mixing fantasy-speak: 'I am he!' with lines like: 'You gotta be kidding me.' The one good (well, not too bad) thing here was the effects. Lava-monsters are pretty easy to do, but winged horse Pegasus was actually quite impressive, though his colour-scheme was odd. This would have been a rock solid one star, as much of a waste of time as you're likely to find, but the effects get it up to two. It's a shame so many film-makers nowadays seem to think effects are all that matters. They must have spent a fortune on them here, surely enough to pay for a decent lead actor and a whole host of writers with better skills and ideas than this. Come to think of it, despite Clash of the Titans, no-one's ever done a really decent version of the original Perseus story, which is about a million times better than this rubbish.

I'm not the type of film watcher that has a preconceived opinion about the film. I don't go in expecting something. I just watch.When I watched this movie, I was entertained... Bottomline. Sure, if you want award wining dialogues, this movie is not for you. If you want your movie to be theoritically amazing, this movie is not for you.But if you want an evening of fantasy, this movie is simply terrific. It has a group of people on a quest and they succeed in the end. What more do you want? I don't want to see literary dialogues or artsy situations. I just want to see a guy fight with magic and for the good cause.This movie had it. I was completely into it for as long as the film lasted and that's all I need. When it was done, I felt I had a good evening. This movie is not one for the legendary ranking, but surely enough to watch a second time.And contrary to what many film critics propose, not EVERY film has to be top 100 of all time film... Some movies are just fun for an evening. And this is one of those films. It is not a "blown away" type of film... But a "that was fun" type of film. In anyway, well worth your 90 minutes.

Wrath of the Titans (2012): Dir: Jonathan Liebesman / Cast: Sam Worthington, Rosamund Pike, Edgar Ramirez, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes: A far superior film than that remake crap that proceeded it although it still pales in comparison to the 1981 original. This one follows the emerging presence of evil as the gods clash with Hades and his army, which leaves Zeus with his powers draining drastically in an effort to awaken the fire giant known as Kronos. This is an impressive and overwhelming creature that strikes fear into villagers with its charred and fire figure destroying more ground than any forest fire. There are numerous other creatures that enter the chaos that will prevail where the film becomes corny but the climatic showdown packs a mean punch. Sam Worthington redeems himself after the previous spectacle and portrays Perseus the demigod who has a son but must face off new obstacles. Like Lynn Collins in John Carter, Rosamnund Pike plays Andromeda as some sort of warrior in what comes off as some sort of gender joke that becomes forced as oppose to believable. Edgar Ramirez plays Ares, Zeus's other son who is jealous of his affection for Perseus. This results in a strong villain responsible for the chaos as well as provide a worthy adversary for Perseus. Liam Neeson displaying Zeus's weak side may be a mistake but it does bring more emotion to the role. Ralph Fiennes plays Hades but he isn't much more interesting than he was in the pathetic film that proceeded it. Visually superior sequel where the wrath comes from following a piece of crap to begin with. Score: 6 ½ / 10

If you watched the remake of Clash of the Titans then you should know what to expect. I.e. your expectations of its sequel, Wrath of the Titans, should be suitable lowered. And, baring that in mind, you may just enjoy it... may.After the events in Clash, Perseus has finally succumbed the fashion of the day and let his hair grow out. Sadly his wife has died and he's left to bring up his son alone. However, when your dad is the most powerful God in all Olympus, then adventure is never far away. Zeus, played by Liam Neeson, despite being all powerful... gets taken. Instead of going on a killing spree around Europe he finds himself being chained up in the underworld by his evil (other) son and his evil brother so that they may bring back his evil father to power (Zeus has a lot of evil relatives). Therefore Perseus, being the only man in Greece without facial hair, must rescue his dad before he's turned into Father Christmas (see the make-up on Zeus near the end).It's nothing new, but it ticks along okay. Every fifteen minutes or so we're treated to another big monster for Perseus to fight. Every character plays their part well enough (and with a different accent - who'd have thought there were so many different accents in ancient Greece? Special mention to Bill Nighy who has the thickest Yorkshire accent in all times past). Perseus is naturally helped out by a tough, hard-as-nails fighting woman (Rosamund Pike) and a cheery comic relief-type character who is the long lost son of Poseidon.After watching Wrath, I found it hard to actually hate anything about it. It ticks all the boxes. It has action, monsters, a bit of love interest and that's that. However, it just felt like an 'action film by the numbers.' Just like I couldn't think of anything bad to say about it, I couldn't really find anything good to say about it either. It simply exists as a film. When it ended I didn't really feel any emotion at all.Not a waste of ninety-five minutes, but hardly the best use of my time. Bring back clockwork owls and stop-motion monsters any day!