Clash of the Titans: Movie Review

Clash of the Titans
Opening: 1st April 2010

ONE LINE REVIEW: Occasionally entertaining, yet ultimately hollow.

Running Time:106 mins
Genre:Action, Drama, Fantasy
Rating:PG
Distributor:Warner Bros
Director:Louis Leterrier

Cast:Alexa Davalos, Danny Huston, Gemma Arterton, Izabella Miko, Liam Neeson, Mads Mikkelsen, Ralph Fiennes, Sam Worthington, Tamer Hassan

Here’s my first movie review on my blog, and about the first movie I watched in a theatre in Singapore

I’ve never seen the original 1981 version of the same movie, and I didn’t plan to go for this one either because it seemed at first that its not going to be more than a computer graphics display, which it sadly was. And to quote the film’s lead actor Worthington from his interviews, he’s no more than a man in a skirt with a toy sword which he uses to kill other men, not to forget that it materialized out of thin air. But then again, he IS a demi-god.

The movie is set in the Greek city of Argos where this war is about to happen between the mortals and the Gods. This dude, Worthington plays the role of Perseus (yes, greek myth) who is raised by a fisherman after he is fished out of a err, coffin like box with his mom  dead in it. He thus is raised as a fisherman, but in fact is a demi-god. Perseus realizes this fact pretty late after his parents are killed by Hades, god of the underworld and that’s where our “hero”, son of Zeus, decides to take on the planet, to kill Hades and avenge the death of his parents which was brought about by him. Also, it is Perseus’ ‘destiny’ to save Argos from the ruthlessness of Hades and his beast, Kraken and thus, our hero leads a group of soldiers with nothing to lose on a quest to defeat Kraken, preventing Hades from overthrowing Zeus and destroying mankind. In the movie, Hades offers the citizens an option regarding the future of Argos, either to sacrifice the princess, Andromeda or perish with the city. The movie, in some sense, may feel like a 101 guide to Greek Mythology, although its nowhere near that.

The movie was watchable, to say the least. It was flawed in all departments, from cast to screenplay, it lacked that thought and action that goes into place. If anyone wants a movie with a hybrid character or a 3D movie generally, Worthington’s the man – half man half machine in Terminator: Salvation, half man half Na’vi in Avatar, and now, half-man half-god who’s tasked to save Andromeda of Argos from being monster sacrifice, should he be able to defeat Hades’ Kraken, the source of his power and threat to mankind. Worthington seems pigeon-holed into these kinds of role, and because of Hollywood’s current dearth of worthy action heroes, Worthington becomes the latest It boy with his physique and perpetual scowl, being suited perfectly well into this scarcity of actors who can act with their fists, without the compelling need to launch into lengthy dialogue as a professional and career development. Talking about dialogue, there was no emotionality, all the little tid bits of humor fell flat at every turn. It was like Michael Bay wrote the dialogue!

The other actors have been made to prance around in fancy dresses like gits – Liam Neeson had that constipated look in his costume playing Zeus and for an actor who’s been part of great movies like Chronicles of Narnia, Batman Begins and Simpsons, this wasn’t the best role in terms of his capability. Ralph Fiennes now believes that all villain roles are to be enacted in the same way, be it Voldemort or Hades, this time with a raspy voice. Even Pegasus for that matter goes through a colour change! I always believed that winged horse was white and now its black! The other Gods in Cloud City have jack squat to do or say anything – they’re there to fill up that place available.

The movie’s plot is pretty straightforward and often the film seems as if its in a hurry, trying to move from one action sequence to another at a frenetic pace. The scenes between these action parts amount to nothing. Even the action scenes aren’t memorable, they are at such a pace that most of it seems disoriented and with no character development shown in the movie, I couldn’t be bothered about the outcome of these actions. But even if it doesn’t make you say wow, it ii *did* get me laughing once a while, sometimes giving me the idea that this movie is inspired by pokemon in terms of commanding animals to kill others! Even the epic Kraken, which is given quite possibly the most epic introduction ever, isn’t all you think it would be cracked up to be. Nothing really pops here, and that’s a real shame. With all sorts of great Greek mythology to pull from, it could have even been possible to pull off something as epic as was played in God of War III.

And finally, the 3D effects. You probably know that this movie wasn’t shot in 3D and this effect was only added during post production, after Avatar’s success. Yeah, there’s depth of field, but I can vouch for the fact that the action could have felt better while watching in 2D, simply because there isn’t any “in your face” kind of action – not surprising since the movie was conceptualized to be a flat presentation.

Ultimately, Crap Clash of the Titans ends up as a forgettable, watchable movie with a lot of miss and hit action, I cannot complain too much, it tries to be much more than what it is, but it sticks to its action scenes to move the story and give it direction. A regular 2D view will give you a better shot at the film,  in terms of entertainment and the story as a whole. Even Worthington’s called it a “popcorn flick”. Take from that what you will.

Overall: 2.5/5

Singapore.

Here finally. Its been around three weeks since I came here, and I’m really getting into this place! But for those who have no idea what I’m doing here, this is the story :

Chapter 1: India

1. How I ended up here:

July 09 – My mom saw this form in the newspaper asking for people to apply for the Singapore Airlines Scholarship which would give selected candidates a chance to get free education in one of the top Junior Colleges in Singapore and would also be paid a monthly allowance of S$200 apart from the other things. I filled up the form just for kicks, only to realize that I’ve been selected to take the written test at the Radisson sometime in August.

2. The Test:

The test, to be honest, was a no-brainer. Pretty straight forward, the whole test comprised of subtests, namely mental ability, math, english essay and comprehension. After spending a whole lot of time finishing the tests, I just completely forgot about the whole thing because I had the first terms to concentrate on.

3. The dream:

First terms were now over, and I had failed math by a considerable margin. 22 by no means is “just” fail, its a bomb. From 98 to 22, it hurts. Not that I had done really well in my other tests, I now started wishing that I just get through the scholarship thing and thus reset my class 11. A month later, I got a letter calling me for my interview to the Radisson again.

Luck was favouring me at this point of time. And its always better to go with the flow.

4. The interview:

November 09 – I was skipping the Founder’s Day for my interview and on the way, I started thinking that if I were to leave, I would definitely miss out on a LOT of things, Head Boy being one of them, and other stuff like CCAs etc (not to forget my friends here). But after serious thinking, I decided that I had to leave, because I wasn’t really doing well here, with me now getting involved in commerce CCAs as well, it was just getting out of hand.

And with this approach I went for the interview. My interviewers were officers from the Ministry of Education from Singapore. After going through my achievements etc, they finally asked the inevitable question:

Why do you want to leave your school if your CCAs and studies are top notch here?

This question was the crux of my dilemma – why would I want to leave? Did my school suck? Did the teachers not teach well? Was I not getting opportunities? I couldn’t really disagree with points 2 and 3…but somehow I answered my question and got away.

5. The letter:

A week later, I got my letter, with the acceptance form to fill. Yes, I got my scholarship – a lifeline – an opportunity to start afresh. A way to erase all my bad grades from class 11 to do well again, be what I was – somewhere at the top. Plus I DID get to do my CCAs here so it wasn’t really a worry. I would lose just 6 months, but its all for good. And thus, I said yes.

6. Formalities:

Thinking about how I just had another month and a half left with the friends i made over the past 6-7 years, I went and broke the news to some of my seniors and batchmates. Shocked at first, the thing started setting in. I was missing from class for 2 months and now I wouldn’t be around for the next year and a half. It just wasn’t worth thinking – not because they didn’t matter, but for the fact that the very thought made me think – do I regret what I’ve done? No. That’s not the answer. And I continued with my visa apps, ticketing etc.

7. Life after selection:

Surprisingly the school principal didn’t really give a damn. That was expected at first, but for someone who has seen me grow right from kindergarten, it was funny to note how she was trying to avoid all sorts of contact.

Life became increasingly simple after selection – all I went to school for was the Asian Region Space settlement design competition and future cities 2020 competition preparations. Working hard with teams, I was getting pretty sad for the fact that it was my last event with them, the school, in India.

8. The Law of Silveredge:

The law prevailed, everywhere. I don’t really know how, but the moment I got to know of my selection, I won all my last events – team or otherwise. INMUN, FutureCities 2020, Space Settlement, Japan Quiz to name some. A final touch to my 13 years here at Amity.

9. The last week:

The last week was just bad. Here I was trying to be happy that our team had made it to the finals of the asian levels for space set as winners for the first time, and then came the feeling that I would not be with them for this. Farewells etc were there, and the last day was funny with Rishab, Arjun, Shaashwat and Mallika from school meeting me at Citywalk. Packed up, ready to go.

That’s how it was while leaving. And now comes the S’pore part.

Chapter 2: Singapore

1. Flight:

19th Jan 10 – Flight delayed, bad weather. After saying countless number of byes, I was still saying “bye” to everyone! But after 4 hours of delay, me and the group of scholars with me left for our new home – Singapore.

2. First feel:

Landing at the Changi Airport, it seemed just out of another world. How could something be so clear? I missed the chaos, the whole jostly feel! We met our MOE officers who dropped us to our different hostels. I was alloted the ACS Oldham Hall for my hostel. Its a pretty decent place, to be honest. I prefer calling it a Prison with Facilities.

3. School

Anglo Chinese Junior College. Killer stuff. The super orientations, facilities, teachers, co curricular activities, school spirit….’nuff said. Its just too good to be expressed in words.

That’s how thing’s have shaped up. Will keep you guys updated.