Clash of the Titans

I remember watching the original version of Clash of the Titans over and over again as a kid. We recorded it when it was on the Disney Channel once and I kept the VHS tape near the VCR for a long time. I remember being terrified of Medusa and the Stygian Witches with their crazy shared eye. But to balance it out, I developed a small crush on Andromeda. Not sure if it's the really bad special effects or the epic mythical story, but something about that movie makes it a classic.

So they remade it. The trailer I saw for it a few months ago got me excited, even though I try to stay skeptical about remakes for as long as possible. But when Liam Neeson, as Zeus, says "Release the Kraken!" it's hard to not get excited.

Today I made the trip to the theater and saw the 2010 version of Clash of the Titans. As one who loved the original as a kid, I can safely say I was not disappointed. The story is slightly different, but the main ideas remained the same. The effects were awesome to say the least. But it's really easy to call special effects awesome after there have been 29 years of advances made in movie making technology.

Sam Worthington plays the part of Perseus, originally played by Harry Hamlin. Now, I'm not sure how big a fan I am of Worthington yet. He's now been in three very high profile movies in the last year. I guess Hollywood loves him, but I'm just not that impressed. I'm not saying he did a bad job in this movie, I just don't buy his appeal.

If you're looking for a call back to the old school Titans, we get a glimpse of the mechanical owl near the beginning of Perseus' quest. Sadly, the owl gets no more screen time than that. Oh, and the Kraken looks much more menacing this time around. It used to just look like a giant version of the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

By the way, I feel that I should specify that I saw the movie in all its 2-D glory, as it was originally meant to be seen. I'm sure you've seen all the amazing ads telling you to see this movie in 3-D, but don't be fooled. This was not a movie that was filmed specially to be seen in 3-D. This was a movie that was altered in post-production to take advantage of the 3-D fad that seems to be foolishly sweeping the globe thanks to Avatar and every single animated movie that comes out these days. 3-D is a gimmick; one that I hope goes away soon. Depth is highly overrated. We get enough of it in real life. Watching flat moving pictures helps us to separate entertainment from reality.

The original Clash of the Titans is actually available to watch via Netflix online. I may watch it tonight for the purposes of nostalgia.