Originally published by L.S. Media. April 15th 2012.
Cast: Sam Worthington, Rosamund Pike, Bill Nighy, Edgar Ramirez, Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson, Danny Huston.
Wrath of the Titans brings back the idea of the big screen epic that the Lord of the Rings franchise enjoyed much deserved success with and with a cast list that some Hollywood and British directors would pawn the family silver to have appeared in their film.
The sequel to the 2010 Clash of the Titans sees Sam Worthington reprise his role of Greek classic mythology as the hero Perseus and re-joined by Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson as the Gods, Hades and Zeus. The power of the Gods is fading and so could be said for some of the people associated within the film. If you enjoy Greek mythology or the works of Ovid or even a straight depiction of Gods V Man and Good v Evil then this is the film for you. It has all those elements and more than you could hope for. If you are looking for an intelligent and fascinating remake of the Harryhausen 80’s classic then you will be disappointed with a story that feels incredibly short at 99 minutes and a film that could be so much more if it involved two of its stars more and gave them the appeal the roles deserved.
Whilst it’s rare to have anything bad to ever say against Liam Neeson, as an actor whose passion is usually captured by every camera that is trained upon him, it felt that, just this once, he was underplaying the whole time he was onscreen and his interaction with Ralph Fiennes, himself an extraordinary actor, was understated and stunted. The other was Rosamund Pike who took over the part of Andromeda from Alexa Davalos. Whilst it was a joy to see Ms. Pike get her teeth into a film with promise and to be fair give her all to a part, again there was little for her to do and for such a strong woman, it was almost as if she had been told to just do as she was told, reign in any emotion and play the part as just someone who was the obvious love interest to the hero and for someone revered in Greek mythology seemed to spend an awful amount of time being flung to the ground. Perhaps this was acceptable in the 70’s and 80’s, but not now.
The only actor to come out with any real credit was the irreplaceable Bill Nighy as Hephaestus, the creator of the labyrinth that holds the father of all Kronos and the Minotaur. It is one of the quirks of modern cinema that people do find it hard to name a part in which Bill Nighy hasn’t excelled at.
The visuals and effects are the real saving grace of the film and whilst to older fans of the original films they lack the warmth and sincerity of the previous work, it has to be said they add a certain quality and depth, even if at one point some of it does look borrowed from an episode of Doctor Who.
It’s a real shame that the actors were possibly given second thought in the film over the effects and especially in Rosamund Pike, let down in a script that could have offered much more.
If you enjoyed the Clash of the Titans the sequel demands to be seen, if you’re a lover of Greek mythology then it will be an interesting distraction but otherwise it’s a film to miss.
Ian D. Hall