Viewed in
2013
Formats
HDTV
Premise
The sequel to the Sam Worthington remake, Clash of the Titans.
Liked
The few Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes moments.
Disliked
Pretty much everything else.
Thoughts
Bigger, more expensive, but still forgettable.
Thankfully, there was more interactions/screen time for Neeson and Fiennes. This led to my favorite moment of Qui-Gon-Zeus and Volde-Hades finally kicking some butt. Granted, it was still mostly CGI, stunt doubles and long shots, but their ability to lend gravitas to overblown epic destruction actually made those scenes cool. The underrated/ubiquitous Bill Nighy also lent some much-needed charm as Hephaestus.
The bigger budget led to some decent CGI sequences, mostly in the form of dusty mayhem, town-razing, and volcanic explosions. I don't know how good the 3D was this time, but it might've been pretty sweet to have a gigantic Balrog dripping/oozing molten lava all over your face.
You know what else the movie was oozing? Boredom. Even in terms of special effects eye candy, it never brought much to the table. In fact, the fiery explosions and Tartarus maze were conspicuously CGI. I didn't expect much from the characters, but there wasn't much to be said beyond Agenor's lame/unfunny Jack Sparrow impression, and Bill Nighy's Smeagol/Gollum imitation. Heck, even the plot was a copy of the first title: quest leads to subquest leads to fighting foreign CGI monsters who end up being your allies, then more subquests to kill the big bad.
By this point, there was no use complaining about Kronos inaccurately portrayed as a gargantuan Balrog, but I needed to pass the time while watching.
Aside from the rare Neeson/Fiennes/Nighy moments, Wrath of the Titans was truly a brainless action flick. There was plenty of fire, smoke, dust, noise, yelling, fighting, and CGI. But without any effort into story, character or charm, it was a dull exercise in computer graphics and wanton Greek violence.
