Clash of the Titans, from the title alone, made many promises. We expect to see many monsters of Ancient Greece, and we expect them to do battle, alongside humans and the Gods. We expect many many epic battles, lots and lots of CGI and appropriately over the top performances to go with them, but mostly, we want the monsters. While Clash delivers on some level for each of these promises, it surprisingly really lacks in the monsters department.
It must be said as fair warning, you do not get to see Kraken VS Hydra or anything like that in Clash of the Titans. The action is centered squarely around demigod Perseus, who for our purposes is basically a man secreting badass. After Hades threatens to unleash the Kraken on the city of Argos, Perseus and a group of soldiers go in search of a way to kill the Kraken, encountering many perils along the way.
The problem is its always Perseus and the soldiers who end up fighting the monsters. I'm sure I'm not the only one who expected the beasts to fight one another at some, mythology be damned (not like its particularly close to the myths anyways). Only four real combat beasts emerge anyways: the Kraken, Medusa, a mutated Acrisius and some random giant scorpions. Not even the Gods get to fight much, despite the much-hinted battle between Zeus and Hades.
The Kraken in particular really should've had a battle with another beast thrown in, and its use seems like a wasted opportunity. The scorpion battle is quite exciting, though is broken up as its really four fights with different scorpions simultaneously. The Medusa sequence is easily the best of the film, as although we know from a plot perspective Perseus can't die, the fate of the group of soldiers is considerably less clear. It all makes for a very tense and rewarding sequence, somewhat hindered by the surprisingly poor CG on the Medusa character model. Shame, as the rest of the monsters are quite good looking.
The cast is quite good on paper, but it doesn't work as well as expected. Worthington is a suitable lead, but I see him heading to Stallone-esquire B-movies quickly if he doesn't find more interesting characters. Liam Neeson is fairly underused, and aside from the "Release the Kraken" line, never gets any moments. Ralph Fiennes is the biggest disappointment as Hades, spending far too much of the time whispering like a bad Sith impersonation than being actually menacing. The standout is easily Mad Mikkelson as the leader of the soldiers. While not a terribly meaty role, he has more than enough charisma to be much more interesting than Perseus himself.
Clash is definitely not a waste of a matinée ticket, and I felt I got almost what I expected. But I know it could've been more, and it seemed to be purposely saving certain creatures for a sequel. Its solid fun, but hardly the must-see some might think from the trailers.
