The Energon Pub

I watched it today, and I really liked the movie! Sure, the 3D was as good as by Spotlight: Optimus, but the overall CG quality was superb, I liked how "good" the Medusa looked and her archery - it reminded me of the Heroes of Might&Magic series. The jinns were a bit out of the greek mithology(or at least I don't remember them), but they fitted in the picture - and I hope Scorpion Riders will make their way into RPG Strategy Games.

The only effect that was laugh-worthy was the "lightsaber" and the sword-to-magic missile effect that Perseus used to defeat Hades.

I've recently ordered the NECA Perseus figure and while I eagerly await its arrival, I figured I'd weigh in on this discussion.

As someone who has watched the original Clash of the Titans, I actually enjoyed the 2010 version. However, there are issues with the movie as a movie but I'll get to that later.

First of all, I enjoyed all of the nods in the 2010 version that only those who saw the original would appreciate. The design of the Kraken, for example, is largely a redesign of the foam costume monster in the original. The confrontation with Medusa and the meeting with the Stygian Witches were two other scenes that take cues from the original CotT.

I also enjoyed how the characters of Draco and his comrades were portrayed as they added some character to what were originally a bunch of straight forward cannon fodder led by Thallo in the original. The soldiers from Argos(Joppa in the original movie) made the 2010 CotT film more of an enjoyable quest story as the original centered mostly on Perseus, not that it's a bad thing as he is the main character. However, the soldiers added variety and flavour to the story and made the impact of their deaths more meaningful than in the original, with the exception of Thallo.

Qui-Gon, I mean Liam Neeson, did his usual thing and didn't disappoint but didn't impress. It's not his fault as much as it was the script. Worthington did a good but not great job. It actually did seem like he had much more to bring to the role but perhaps a combination of the script and what we ended up with in the theatrical cut hampered what we saw of his performance. Mads Mikkelsen was given the cliche gruff soldier role but he brought charm and personality to the performance. Gemma Arterton as Io was good and interesting serving as an odd combination of mentor and romantic interest.

I liked the costume and prop design. It's not historically accurate by any means but neither was the original.

Now as far as my criticisms, it comes down to a few things. First of all, the material is weak. The movie leaves gaps in the story that I could compensate for due to my experience of watching the original movie but for newcomers, there's going to be parts where people have to play along when dots are connected simply because things just happen. For example, maybe I missed something but how did Draco and others come to the conclusion that Perseus was the son of Zeus? Another thing I didn't get was how Perseus was all of a sudden a natural warrior. He's the son of a god, son of Zeus, but in the original movie, there was a brief montage explaining Perseus' upbringing on Seriphos, which gave the audience an indication of a lifestyle that could at least partly explain the original movie's Perseus' physical prowess and co-ordination.

Another issue with the movie is that it seems like it wants to do its own thing but it is held back by the constraints of being a remake or homage to the original movie. Granted, the movie did deviate quite a bit from the original but I feel that if the script was written as an unrelated story, things could have turned out much better. Basically, what we get is a mish mash of fantasy action movie cliches with a bit of Greek mythology flavour in the style of the original movie. However, I did like the humorous element from the monster hunter brothers, who aren't from the original movie.

I liked the SFX. It wasn't the greatest but I didn't think it was terrible. However, I think that the SFX took too much of the focus and instead of a well shot movie, we got a showcase of what could be done with the movie's SFX budget.

Lastly, while the movie isn't great cinema by a long shot, I felt it had many really good aspects, really good moments, but with nothing connecting them together. It's like gathering the freshest, tastiest ingredients but then giving them to a person who doesn't know what to do with them. The shame of CotT 2010 is that I can see how much better it could have been had the management involved been different people.

Overall, I give the movie a passing grade but only if one views it purely as a popcorn movie that is certainly fun but should and could have been a far better movie.

I have to say, while I enjoyed the movie, it really suffered from the editing it had to undergo for release.

For those that don't know the script/final movie was substantially altered and shortened, to make Zeus not be the overall douche he was originally meant to be, and end the movie in a positive note.

This caused many scenes which seemingly had no reason of existing or just made no sense whatsoever.

However, without knowing that the story was modified, it wasn't all that bad.

I did love the nods to the original one. I'm surprised Convotron, that you did not mention Bubo the Owl. Biggest nod to the original.

I hope we get a directors cut DVD version where we can see the unedited uncut version in its glorious entirety.

I didn't mention Bubo because I just wanted to mention the more extensive nods. Bubo's homage was more of a cameo, hehe, but cool for those who liked the little guy. It's too bad it didn't play more of a role in the new movie but it wouldn't have fit in with the more gritty take on the story.

I've read about the alterations to the editing and that gives me the feeling that the movie perhaps was better before things were changed. I hope a directors cut does get released!