Clash of the Titans (2010)
By: Louis Leterrier (director), Travis Beacham, Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi (screenplay), Beverley Cross (1981 screenplay)
Starring: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Flemyng, Gemma Arterton, Alexa Davalos, Mads Mikkelsen, Hans Matheson, Nicholas Hoult
The mortal son of the god Zeus embarks on a perilous journey to stop the underworld and its minions from spreading their evil to Earth as well as the heavens.
If you’ve never seen the original version of Clash of the Titans, you’re missing out on one of the most endearingly awful films ever made. When I discovered a remake was being made, I was both surprised and delighted—Like so many other guilty pleasure movies, it’s always a bit shocking to discover you’re not alone in thinking it’s fabulous (Especially if by “fabulous” we mean “fabulously bad”). So it was that I went into my viewing of the remake not with the expectation of a fast-paced action film, but rather total cheesiness.
Clash of the Titans is now, as ever, an indulgence. It isn’t as obvious in the remake as the original, but the movie is not meant to be taken seriously. At its heart, it is wild childhood imagination sprung to life and run rampant, full of sword fights and magical creatures and so many things adults would frown upon because they’re just too darned silly. If you can acknowledge that it’s not supposed to be high art and just let yourself go along for the ride, it’s fun. It’s never going to be a great movie, is always going to be damned ridiculous, but that’s the point.
