Official Blog For Author Thomas McClurg

If you’ve read any of my Cerberus Bay stories, you know Greek mythology is a favorite topic of mine. You can then understand how i was excited about “The Clash of the Titans” coming out. In my opinion there aren’t enough movies made about Greek mythology, but that’s another discussion all together. For now i’ll stick to the review.

The movie is a remake of the old 1981 film of the same name which was loosely based on the story of Perseus. The remake is even looser which immediately puts an odd taste in my mouth, but as much as i would like a faithful telling of the story, i understand that most stories don’t conform nicely to Hollywood movies and that liberties must be taken to make everything fit the way it’s supposed to in a screen play.

Here’s an example. In Greek mythology Hades isn’t the personification of evil. He rules the underworld, like the land lord of the dead, and for the most part stays out of the business of men and the other gods. Zeus and Poseidon were much more likely to screw over mankind than Hades, but we need an ultimate villain for the movie, and the ruler of the underworld easily transitions into the role. Dark, brooding, scary, lives surrounded by dead souls, all of it makes him a prime candidate for the big bad guy, and since most people don’t have a clue, they can easily identify with him as the bad guy, just in the same way they can easily identify with Zeus as being the more benevolent of the two.

So you warp the characters and suddenly you have the good versus bad that every action movie thrives on. All you need is a hero, enter Perseus. To say it loosely follows his story is generous, but again, i can go with it, it’s not trying to be faithful, it’s trying to be entertaining, if i want faithful i’ll read the old poems, i certainly won’t watch a big budget action extravaganza.

So how about that goal of entertaining? The results were a tad uneven in my opinion.

Let me start by saying the 3d did nothing to help it, in fact there were plenty of times when i found it very distracting, mostly during the action scenes, which is exactly the wrong time for everything on the screen to suddenly become a mish mash of blurred 3d images. If i had to do that part over i’d watch it in 2d for sure. Some movies just aren’t made for it, and cramming it down the production pipeline because it’s back in vogue isn’t the best choice.

The story, stitched together as it was from slaughtered Greek mythology, was serviceable, and seemed to exist if only for the purpose of running the audience from one action scene to the next. I was never emotionally involved, but never turned off at the same time.

As for the action, it lived and died by special effects. When it all came together, and there were a few moments when i felt it did, Hades appearing and disappearing, most of the Medusa fight, part of the scorpion fight, the action was everything you would expect from a popcorn flick, but there were other times when the special effects got in the way and the action drifted to close to cheesy, think phantom menace of those horrible zombies in i am legend. Still i was left mostly satisfied with that part of the movie.

The biggest problem for me was that was pretty much all there was to it. Perseus is always running after something or away from something or fighting something. So much so that there isn’t ever any time to really get to know the characters. As a fan of Greek mythology this is the hardest part for me to swallow. I see so much potential for riveting scenes of dialogue between the gods and the heroes, so much nuance for the personalities of both parties that when all i get is superficial i am seriously disappointed and left with big time thoughts of what could have been.

A talented cast is almost entirely wasted on ho hum dialogue. Sam Worthington is always determined, always steely eyed, always ready to slay his foes and fight for whatever he’s fighting for, but he could have been any generic action hero when he was supposed to be portraying a legendary hero of myth. I blame the script for this.

I also blame it for taking Liam Neeson, one of my favorite actors and a well casted Zeus, and doing virtually nothing with his ability or the wonderful potential in Zeus’s character. The god’s were arrogant, whimsical, and capricious. They could shower love on one mortal for small reasons and turn around and utterly destroy the life of another for reasons just as trivial. They were unpredictable, and yet seemingly all powerful, like children playing with dolls, capable of the tenderest of gestures one moment and blinding, irrational rage the next. As a writer they present a treasure trove of possibilities, and so the worst thing i can think of besides removing the gods from the movie all together (Troy) is making them bland, boring, one dimensional characters. Sadly this is what i saw. Zeus is good, Hades is bad, none of the other gods have anything to do with the story and that’s that. In this regard i was quite disappointed.

My favorite character had to be a soldier whose name escapes me at this time played by Mads Mikkelson (SP)? I thought his lines were the best and he did the most with them, but it was to little in a script filled with oodles of wasted potential.

So how is it that i can still say i enjoyed it? Because Greek mythology evokes wonderful things in the imagination, no matter how it is portrayed. From the larger than life kraken, to Medusa’s lair filled with stone statues of previous adventurers, to Zeus sitting on his throne looking at a figurine of a man. Or the three hideous witches with one eye between them or Medusa herself, even though it could have been so much more, there was still plenty visually for my mind to enjoy, plenty to take me to another world which is what the movies are supposed to do.  So in that regard it was a success, but it left me wanting so much more. It’s like your starving and someone presents you with a delicious meal only you only get a few bites. Those bites tasted good, but you’re still hungry, that’s me. I enjoyed the bites that were there, but there weren’t nearly enough to satisfy.

Here’s hoping they make more Greek mythology movies in the future, and that they take the time to explore the character potential instead of settling for mindless action.