★★★★☆
I am reviewing the sequel to Clash of the Titans to celebrate the development of Revenge of the Titans Directed by Jonathan Libesman,Starring Sam Worthington,Toby Kebell,Rosamund Pike, Liam Neeson,Edgar Remeriz,Ralph Fieness,Bill Nighty and Danny Huston,Written by Dan Mazeu and Dan Leslie Johnson,Story by Grey Berlanti(Green Lantern),Dan Mazeu and Dan Leslie Johnson(Orphan), Score composed and conducted by Javier Narrate(Pan's Labyrinth,Inkheart)
The film begins with a short prologue from the legendary Liam Neeson. It chronicles the time of Neeson's character Zeus's father Kronos and also how the predecessor of this film happened. As we see Perseus portrayed by the perfectly wooden Sam Worthington of predecessor fame. Worthington is a log, bland and emotionless making the dialogue seem dull and generic. He lives with his son after Io died. The start shows the simplicity and the normality of his life and also how Perseus reluctantly ignores and acts unaware of his inheritance. Worthington shows no life and energy what so ever in the entire film. As Perseus wishes to keep the past behind the past catches up with him. Zeus comes and Neeson's performance is grandeur,theatrical and utterly emotional even though the stupidenously stupid dialogue weighs the actor down. Perseus continuing his life while events get more climatic. Zeus,Posideon and Hades meet in Hade's domain:The Underworld. A spitting cathedral like spiral dark and distressing. Hades portrayed theatrically in muderous style by Ralph Fieness is a traitor making dark,in character quotes bringing a little bit more weight to this paper thin secondary antagonist. In the predecessor the character was shown with a little bit more weight,a little bit more relatability and more understability. All he does is hold his sceptre in a grandous pose and argues with Neeson. As Hades tricks them using the muderous henchmen Makhai to weaken his brothers. Ares portrayed by Edgar Remeriz is as stale as Worthington. You feel no anger when there should be anger raging inside but no there is nothing but a piece of wood wielding and wacking a weapon about for no apparent reason. We go back to Perseus'es life and how the past caught up to him. A chimera grotesquely designed like the other creatures in this film. Breathing fire ravaging everything in sight with glorious effects rooming around it makes it feel like a unleashed beast on a muderous rampage
Perseus willing attacks the beast thrillingly fast paced and glorious at least showing the eerie grotesquesness of the beast. Perseus kills the beast showing an awkward silence after the death. As Perseus has renewed faith in his father, he comes to the eerie destroyed temple of the gods showing off all the grim tidings. Too many grim tidings. As Posideon portrayed goodly for once by Danny Huston he falls into sand and that is all. The left over ashes of him resemble that are gods don't live forever and they die in the most emotional way. Perseus leave for Andromeda and no majestic Argos to marvel at again just a small,puny camp filled with what looks like a TV dramatisation of the battle of Thermoplye no 300. Former Johnny English Reborn star Rosamund Pike shows a strong performance one of the only strong performances. She's demanding but has a strong sense of humour. I don't Alexa Davalos would of suited this premise of the character but the problem is that Pike does not have chemistry with Worthington but Alexa has. They had so much with Andromeda in the first and they throw it all away for an improvement if she had a different premise from the first. That was the only way I see it could of worked but now it seems confused and muddled. Perseus looks for
Toby Kebell which I particularly wouldn't want to find myself. He is a good actor but the way he is written is like some stupid idiot that
lumbers around the most un charming character I have ever seen. Now no wonder Andromeda never
wanted to marry him. The dialogue in the prison scene is ridiculous and stupid. Just stupid. Andromeda with Perseus and Agenor try and find the island which shows that Agenor isn't that stupid. As they arrive on the island we see that they all aren't all alone. Giant Cyclopes that are exhilarating, a little dull and animated:Bad. I would recommend motion capture because they look stupid. It's an adrenaline rush,running and chasing but the score does not contemplate that feeling. I do like the score,no problem but the action sequences are made dull by the little use of score and the score. In the predecessor we saw Calibos and when they fight it's made exciting thrilling but somehow the score doesn't bring this sequence to life. As Perseus stops them
We meet Bill Nighty or Hephastaus, his character. Nighty is quite amusing not as annoying as Agenor but he's fun. With a small reference to the 1981 original and a good showing of Andromeda's hope we see that things aren't going to well. The giant labyrinth is an interesting concept,showing every concept and how Hephastaus made it. As they try&find the start to the labyrinth we see that Ares doesn't want to them to stop his plan and he'll do whatever he can do. Remeriz still doesn't improve with his acting and when they fight there isn't much fighting. Just sword bang,clash. No excitement what so ever. Remeriz does feel like he is merciless just not an angry jealous god. Andromeda doesn't really get her moment shine through dialogue:Yes though fighting:No. We don't see her warrior side throughout the entire film. As they get inside the labyrinth Hephastaus dies,sacrificing himself. The labyrinth is a cazam,an endless maze and it isn't really scary. Apart from it's moving traps,Indiana Jones Greek style and the bull man with a cold there's nothing really frightening about this place. As Perseus is tricked by his fears we see how his son is most important to him and then they switch for the most sluggish action sequence,disappointing is the word. All the
Minotaur does is do a rhino impression rams him,Perseus grabs the horn and he's dead. Quick. Very quick. Perseus gets inside and the others as we see that Zeus sees something inside Hades that is different. As Hades attempts to free his dying brother Ares doesn't want it to happen. Turning against his ally Kronos becomes resurrected and Perseus saves his dad. Zeus at his last breath is sent to the camp and we get our big finale. Perseus attempts to face Ares in the battle while Andromeda's army hold them off. The Makhai are gloriously designed creatures but they don't see as much glory as they should be having. They could be so much stronger but no little henchmen that 's all. The battle between Ares and Perseus is thrilling filled with blood and quite tragic. Perseus is forced to kill him and as the battle continues the finale isn't as thrilling as the predecessor. The predecessor has a thrilling chase involving furies,the Kraken and Medusa's head. Kronos is bigger and stronger than the Kraken. As Zeus and Hades joins forces we see that they're good brothers. As we see Perseus have a little romance,Zeus dies and then we see that Perseu's son isn't going home.
I give Wrath of the Titans 3.5 stars because it's an improvement from the predecessor,Pike's performances and the plot but it's weighed down by it's cheesy performances,kinda dull score, it's plot execution,disappointing twists and dull antagonists
Clash of the titans is out on DVD now
Wrath of the Titans is out on DVD now
Clash of the Titans(1981)is out on DVD now