Clash of the Titans

I actually went and saw a remake. I believe stick with the classic and leave it at that. I will have to a write post just on remakes because I could go on and on that subject alone. But my father, sister and I decided to give it a try.

I love the classic Clash of the Titans (1981) starring Harry Hamlin. My favorite character is the tin owl (kudos to the new film for giving him a cameo appearance). Ray Harryhausen’s stop action special effects were amazing (sad that was his last film). That Medusa scared me as child. The Kraken is also way better than the new one as well. I liked how the old screenplay brought in the image of the Gods using humans has pieces on a game board. It looked like the new one was going to go that way but it was just in the background and not really used.

What I liked about the new film:

Sam Worthington. Though handsome, not pretty boy image. He made a perfect every man’s hero.

I really liked Liam Cunningham’s (I think that is his name) character and the humor he brought to the film. I’m a big believer in throwing in humor in action films.

The women in the film were strong and not “look at me and how pretty I am, so save me.”

My thoughts on the film:

The two animal hunters that joined the soldiers reminded me of “The Brownies” in Willow.

Fiennes and Neeson look like they really could be brothers with their facial features. At first I thought Neeson was playing both parts.

Who knew Fiennes could look ugly?

I was surprised to see Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy) all grown up and being a solider, who would have ever thought?

Why did they put the Gods in shiny armor? It looked ridiculous. They would have looked more threatening in togas.

Stop action is cooler than computer images.

What was with the Djini? They were creepy and seemed no way related to mythology or at least to my knowledge of it.


Though the film is based on the old film, as noted in the credits, the story line is different. What really remains the same is that Perseus has to get Medusa’s head to save the princess from the Kraken. Everything else in between is different. So you can still enjoy this film for entertainment value without guilt.

(Just a side note I watched the old classic this past summer on cable and there is nudity which I never saw growing up watching it on TV so be forewarn even though it says PG.)