Clash of the Titans 2010

We watched Clash of the Titans 3D at Greenhills Theater with Nikki and Leslie. This is a remake of the 1981 movie of the same title; updated with the latest CGI effects, and of course, rendered in 3D. Unlike Avatar which was really intended to be in 3D, Clash of the Titans was not. It was only converted into 3D during post production. So it did not really make full use of the new media. It seems that all new, big movies are now coming out in 3D. I guess its the movie producers latest ploy to bring people to watch on the big screen instead of downloading the movie and watching it on standard 2D.

Clash of Titans is a retelling of the story of the demigod, Perseus. This movie is very loosely based on the original Greek tales. Unlike the 1981 version, this movie pretty much made up its own mythology with disregard to the original stories. Perseus is played by Sam Worthington. This guy seem to have popped out of nowhere and into the lead role of several recent major movies including Terminator Salvation and Avatar. Other major actors in the cast includes Liam Neeson (as Zeus) and Ralph Fiennes (as Hades).

This version explains that Zeus got Danae pregnant to spite her husband, Acrisius, who was waging a battle with the Olympian Gods. When Acrisius found out about the bastard child (aka. Perseus), he had him and his mother put in a casket and thrown into the sea. In the more classic story, Danae was the daughter of Acrisius. When the oracles foretold Acrisius that one day, the son of Danae, will kill him, he had the boy and Danae killed.

With the 1981 version, Perseus' love interest was Andromeda -- the damsel-in-distress who was going to be sacrificed to the sea monster. With the 2010 version, his love interest became Io, who in the original Greek classics, had nothing to do with Perseus. Also, the sea monster here is the Krakken, reminiscent of Pirates of the Caribbean. Of course, 'krakken', is a generic Scandinavian word that refers to some sea monster (most likely giant squids in the North Seas). But here, the Krakken is the beast controlled by Hades who used it to kill their parents, the original Olympians.

Pegasus, the famous winged white horse (and not the Gentlemen's Club over at Quezon Ave., hehehe) has metamorphosed into a black stallion with wings in this version. And there's not only one of these winged horse, but apparently an entire herd that graze together. Then there are new character additions -- the desert djinn's that saved them from the giant scorpions and accompanied them to the underworld to the lair of Medusa. Even though this CGI-enhanced Medusa was more nimble, she did not seem that scary and felt cartoonish.

For all its cheeziness (at least, by today's standards), the original 1981 Clash of the Titans, was a much better movie that left a deeper impression on me as a grade schooler than this latest incarnation.