In theaters
CLASH OF THE TITANS, directed by Louis Leterrier, written by Travis Beacham, Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, 106 minutes, rated PG-13.
Click to watch a video review.
Right now, it’s all the rage with the majority of film critics to hate the new action movie, “Clash of the Titans.” Once the initial rash of critics skewered it, word spread, the balance tipped, and along with it came the predictable landslide of sniggers directed at a movie that doesn’t deserve them.
Call it what you want — a herd mentality? — but the majority got it wrong.
Director Louis Leterrier based the film on Travis Beacham, Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi’s script, and what he created is a film that delivers exactly what you expect — well-done action pieces blended with jolts of camp that are so over-the-top, you half expect Mount Olympus to be made from one of Joan Crawford’s shoulder pads.
For those who recall the original 1981 movie, this new version tones things down a bit in that it doesn’t also wield a wire hanger, but a good deal of its enjoyment does come from the fact that a lot of the ongoing excess is fun to watch because what’s surrounding it is polished, particularly the special effects. It’s easy to be amused by this movie for the wrong reasons, but it’s also easy to admire it for the right reasons. If you go into it with that mindset, perhaps you’ll have the good time I had.
In the film, all kinds of ugliness is going down between the gods of Olympus and the mortals created by their leader, Zeus (Liam Neeson, gleaming and glistening like a tinsel Christmas tree). Apparently, the mortals are over the gods, so much so that they’re being stingy with their prayers, which the gods feast upon. In an effort to keep the mortals in line, Zeus’ estranged brother, Hades (Ralph Fiennes), arrives in a clap of black smoke and promises Zeus and the other gods that he’s the one to handle the situation.
Trouble is, Hades has a foe in the demigod Perseus (Sam Worthington), who wants revenge on Hades for killing the family who took him in when he was an infant floating in a sarcophagus with his dead mother at sea (don’t ask). Since Perseus is Zeus’ son, the screenwriters dice into the script traces of Freud that clash with traces of Dr. Phil.
Zeus wants Perseus to join him in the heavens as a god, but Perseus wants none of it. He wants to be a man fighting off brutes in a leather skirt. And so, he curls his lips in defiance and joins the Argos to defeat Hades and the threat of a sea monster called the Kraken. Doing so won’t be easy, particularly since along the way, all sorts of monsters come along to kill them first.
Among them are a few doozies, such as giant scorpions, flying bat-things unleashed by Hades, the grotesque hissing of the gorgeous Gorgon sisters, a beautifully rousing scene involving a fight against Medusa, and then the Kraken itself, which smashes the hell out of everything around it because it can.
How Perseus must kill the Kraken we’ll leave for you, but it’s fun to watch him try, regardless of the holes in the script and the occasional lapses in logic. This movie is a theme park ride. Those looking for artistry should turn to the special effects, such as the winged horse Pegasus, which is a seamless marvel to behold, particularly while in flight. As for the acting, the grunting arrives on cue, people bellow when they should, Hades is a fantastic blast of bombast and Perseus leaps and slashes with ease even if Worthington himself is wooden in the role.
Still, this is an action movie, and the action is just fine.
Grade: B-
On Blu-ray disc
POSEIDON, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, written by Mark Protosevich, 99 minutes, Rated PG-13.
While we’re on the remake bandwagon, Wolfgang Petersen’s “Poseidon” is out on Blu-ray disc, and it answers one of the trickier questions to be lobbed out of Hollywood: How do you replace the heroic sight of Shelley Winters — panties showing, legs kicking, weight on the rise — skimming through a watery deep in an effort to save the remaining passengers of 1972’s “The Poseidon Adventure”?
The director’s shrewd answer is that you don’t try. That is one scene that is so indelibly ensconced in pop culture lore it’s best left untouched.
With no time or patience for any discernible character development, this “Poseidon” rails forward, offering audiences a good-looking film rolled in plenty of ham and cheese. This is mostly due to the smoldering, bullet-biting, crazy-eyed performance given by Josh Lucas, whose gambler Dylan Johns is passionately faux-intense, which proves perfect for a movie that courts the same sensibility.
In the film, a huge, rogue wave overcomes the Poseidon on New Year’s Eve, capsizing the ship while sending passengers and crew on a deadly journey into the abyss. Since Johns isn’t about to seal himself in the grand ballroom until help arrives, he realizes he must find a way up to the ship’s hull, through the propellers and into the comparative safety of the open sea.
Several join him, including former New York City mayor Robert Ramsay (Kurt Russell, dependable as ever), Ramsay’s daughter, Jennifer (Emmy Rossum), her fiance, Christian (Mike Vogel) and stowaway Elena (Mia Maestro). Suicidal architect Richard Nelson (Richard Dreyfuss), as well as mother and son, Molly and Conor (Jacinda Barrett, Jimmy Bennett), also add mince to the film, which enjoys a fetish for giant fire balls roiling toward the heavens and the threat of drowning at every turn.
As the body count mounts and the pressure to flee the ship becomes white hot, the cast spends most of the movie soaking wet. The good news is that the movie doesn’t leave them that way, at least not figuratively. “Poseidon” may not rise to the level of the best films made by disaster king Irwin Allen, but it is lean and it is tight, with Petersen offering audiences a no-nonsense version that’s as heavy on all the special effects a $160 million budget can buy.
Grade: B
WeekinRewind.com is the site for Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s blog, DVD giveaways and movie reviews. Smith’s reviews appear Fridays and weekends in Lifestyle. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.