Month: July 2010

Clash of the Titans (2010)
Starring: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes
Directed by: Louis Letterier
Written by: Travis Beacham, Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi
Rated: PG-13

Rating:

I grew up on the original Clash of the Titans (1981).  It’s corny by some of today’s standard, but the movie still holds up overall.  The story sticks remarkably close to it’s mythical roots, though it does take it’s own creative embellishments along the way.  Ray Harryhausen’s effects work is still amazing to me.

I can watch the original over and over.  I will never watch the remake again.

Perseus (Worthington) is discovered in a coffin at float in the sea by a meager fisherman.  The fisherman raises the young boy as his own.  Many years later, Perseus and his adoptive father are fishing when they witness a giant statue of Zeus be toppled into the sea by an army of men.  Hades (Fiennes) appears and destroys everyone around except for Perseus – after all, he is a demigod.

The few remaining soldiers drag Perseus to Argos, where he meets King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia.  It is here he learns that Cepheus and his Queen mean to end the time of the Gods and bring about a new Era of Man – his subjects have ceased praying to the Gods, which is causing them to weaken.  Cepheus is planning an overthrow of Mount Olympus.

Zeus (Neeson), angered by the loss of love from man, gives Hades approval to scare mankind back into a loving submission.  Hades appears at Cepheus’ court, demanding that the princess Andromeda be sacrificed a the eclipse to the Kraken, or Argos would be destroyed.

Hating the Gods, specifically Hades, for killing his adoptive family, Perseus sets out with some warriors from Argos to find a way to destroy the Kraken, save Argos and Andromeda, and beat the Gods.

I won’t touch on the utter destruction of Greek myth (Acrisius is Calibos?  The Kraken defeated Zeus?  Cepheus wants to destroy Zeus?) but it’s quite bad.  The 1981 film took some liberties, but overall it’s storyline was commendably close to the original myths.  The 2010 version takes too many unnecessary liberties that harm the story more than help.

The one drastic deviance I’ll note here is one I just don’t understand.  The filmmakers included the Djinn, an Arabic myth featured prominently in Islam.  The djinn are, depending your source material, one of the three creations of God (along with angels and humans).  They were forged from smokeless fire just as man was made from clay.  In Clash of the Titans, the djinn are warriors in the desert who have replaced their limbs with charred wood to live forever.  What?

The other notable failure of the film is, surprisingly, the special effects.  There are times that the animation sequences are no better than what Harryhausen created by hand with clay.  I was sadly disappointed in the giant scorpion sequence.  Medusa herself was a bit of a let down too.

I can’t really express how disappointed in this movie I was.  I was so excited when the original trailer came out, with it’s awesome looking action and heavy rock soundtrack.  It’s too bad the actual film didn’t turn out like the trailer.  Why they are making a sequel is beyond me, and it’s a frightening prospect.

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Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6CJenNMsb4

For the record, I still think this trailer is bad-ass.

The Wolfman (2010)
Starring: Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving
Directed by: Joe Johnston
Written by: Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self
Rated: R

Rating:

What I wanted when I sat down to watch The Wolfman was quite simple: some gore, a good (no, great) effect when transitioning, and some gothic imagery.  What I got was exactly that – and nothing more.

Lawrence Talbot (Del Toro) is a well-known actor in London, currently playing Hamlet to sold out crowds.  Lawrence has been estranged from his father for some time; his mother committed suicide and the family didn’t hold up well in the aftermath.  After a performance, a beautiful young woman, Gwen (Blunt), interrupts his cast party with terrible news.  Lawrence’s brother has been found brutally murdered.

Gwen is apparently attractive enough to lure Lawrence back to Talbot Hall where he makes little attempt at reconnecting with his father, John (Hopkins).  Lawrence is bent on finding his brother’s killer and begins making rounds through the town.  Rumors of an awful creature, a fell beast, are whispered.  The gypsies have made a stop in town and with them comes curses and monsters.

Lawrence (on a night with a full moon of course) heads to the gypsy camp to investigate and gets mauled by the beast as it attacks the camp.  Though the wound should have been fatal, Lawrence is back on his feet in a surprisingly short amount of time.  As Lawrence’s fated transformation into a wolf progresses, Scotland Yard sends along Inspector Abberline (Weaving), fresh off the Ripper case, to calm the town’s fears and catch the killer.

The rest is details.  There is a particularly interesting scene in a mental institution in London, and some chases in between.  There is a twist – one I didn’t see coming until the last minute – but not a great twist.  There’s a lot of fog and dark images in the forests and empty manse’s.  There’s some gore, some arterial spray.  Details.

Del Toro was an interesting choice to play the lead role, but he does so with obvious admiration for the material.  Hopkins relishes the role and is the best part of the movie, with his interesting stares.  On the other hand, Blunt and Weaving seem to drift through the script.  I cannot say whether it was lack of substance or effort, but neither part is particularly interesting even though they should have been.

The movies best moments are, naturally, the grotesque transformation scenes.  An American Werewolf In London was instantly famous for it’s cutting edge special effects.  Since then, not many werewolf transformations could top it.  I believe that Rick Baker and his team have done it, though – the bone crunching VFX are well-done and make you twinge a little in pain.

I also asked for gothic imagery and got my fair share of it.  The cinematography is well done – not award winning, and it makes a great overuse of post-production effects, but still manages to evoke the right emotions.  That is high praise for the cinematographer, who’s last big-screen effort was The House Bunny.

I must admit that I enjoyed myself throughout.  Yes, it’s mindless, and brought nothing new to the story.  But it was fun, violent, and dark.  If you like the story of the the Wolfman, then check it out – I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

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Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqT19ERntas