Clash of the Titans (2010)
Titans will clash.
I alluded to it last week, time to pay it forward - this week we do the newer 2010 edition of Clash of the Titans.Is it better? Is it worse? Everyone’s always talking crap about remakes, and now plenty of years have passed since it’s release - and the original is just a week ago fresh in our minds. Prime those Greek mythos, it’s time to visit the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans.
The story endpoints are the same: We have a Kraken to beat. The funny part is, despite the endpoints being the same, and even some points of highlights, the story is fundamentally different this time both in the storyline as it’s relayed to us the watcher but also in the core basis of the movie plot. In our original, it was pretty much a romance driving the plot - here, it’s straight revenge. So what is this story then? An old fisherman finds a baby in a coffin (complete with dead mother) and adopts said kid into his own family. Years later, when passing by a statue of Zeus to a city, a bunch of soldiers destroy the statue - provoking action from the god Hades, who in turn causes the death of the boy’s (now a man) family. The gods grow tired of the lack of faith from humans, and opt to punish them through use of the Kraken - prompting some remaining soldiers and the discovered-to-be demigod to go on a quest to destroy the Kraken - in the case of the demigod, for no other reason as to weaken Hades so that he may exact his revenge.
It’s somewhat funny how different the two feel because of the change. Instead of some evil son of another god being the disfigured creature hampering the journey, it is instead the King who was smote in the original - horribly disfigured for his actions of murdering his wife and her son to spite Zeus. This takes out the need for the romance plot driving things, given his role doesn’t call for the marriage and curse subplot that existed in the original. My original complaint of our hero being given an easy mode feeling to his journey from getting all these gifts is also remedied - since Zeus in this doesn’t care nearly as much for the hero as he did in the original (there’s no real playing favorites). Doubled to this is the hero’s propensity to hate the gods for the death of his family meaning that for most the movie he outright refuses to use any of the gifts a god might bestow upon him. In turn, events get reordered around (giant scorpions appear far earlier in this than the original), new events happen (running into a bunch of desert Djinn), and some events are largely left out (the aforementioned romance subplot with Andromeda). Some of these things might be swapped around - for example, a new character serves as a bit of a romance for the hero as well as a bit of the old man’s role from the previous, giving the occasional info dump.
The actors do a good enough job here. Some might come off a bit wooden, but I’m not entirely sure that it’s not because it fits their character of “soldier whose seen some crap” or “demigod.” A bunch of characters float around in here - many throwaway soldiers - but in the case of this time around they do spend a little bit to at least try and give some of them some character - even if it’s just “cute and young, partly stupid” or “jokey old soldier” and nothing as far as super big arcs. The change of the plot actually allows the main character to experience some growth through the movie - it’s nothing earth shattering, but it’s more so than the original movie.
All these effects in one shot.
The change of the story also allows for something else - more action. In debate, you could say it’s worse because of it since there’s less time to develop things slowly, but you could also point out that the time flows much quicker when things keep seeming to happen. Yes, there is still some times of travel and talk, but largely it always feels like something is happening without a ton of waiting around. In turn, things do feel a bit more same-same action movie of the modern day styles, but it at least makes it entertaining enough that you don’t pull a Monty Python and scream “get on with it!” The increased action scene usage also helps make the ending feel much more climactic than the original, providing for a fun and exciting closure in comparison.
Effects department also has a lot to do here. We get a more emphasized division between the royals and general populace when it comes to costumes and levels of grime, all the way on up to the gods in their blazing shiny armors of silver and gold. We also get some classic fantasy-enhanced Greek armor as well as some fun weapons. Of course, the bulk of what you’ll be paying attention to is the creature effects - which hold up pretty well in all honesty. I mean, sure, most of them aren’t going to really make you feel like its a real live creature on display - but they look good enough in the movie that it’s not destroying your immersion when suddenly the Playstation one monster jumps on the screen. Although most are still pretty on par with what they were in the original - Medusa is still a snake lady (although digital instead of stop motion) - some get a bit of a rework as well - such as the ferryman’s redesign into this almost root-like corpse creature that extends like it’s part of the boat. The big boss - the Kraken - also gets a redesign, coming out as more of a blend of Gamera x Octo-crab. It’s pretty decent look, arguably cooler then the original four-armed merman look.
Audio largely gets relegated to the same role as the previous movie, although with less and emphasis on tension in my opinion. The background effects make for a good soundscape and makes things feel lively, but overall the audio feels pretty generic for me in role - it does what it needs to do, doesn’t really stick around with me after I’m done hearing it. Balance for the audio is done well, keeping you hearing any lines you need to hear. You do get some lines that you don’t understand on audio - but that’s an intentional point in the case of the Djinn.
Release the Kraken!
Overall, even though you could argue it doesn’t treat the original all that well (the throw away reference to the mechanical owl felt pointless honestly) it isn’t as bad as you might think. When it comes to re-watching, I think I might choose this over the original - particularly if the desire to watch movies that feel a little slower and that nostalgic backing are things you lack. It plays a little fast and loose with things, but it is interesting to see how much a story can change with some minor changes - and in turn also helps, amongst the other differences, keep the movie a viable one to watch with or without the original.