FOLIO
by Rick Grant
This cheesy remake of Ray Harryhausen’s 1981 film was rushed through production to cash in on the latest 3D craze. The thing is: The 3D is under used and the low grade special effects are laughable. The actors in skirts are seen performing in front of low quality painted backdrops. These effects look shoddy and poorly executed. Come on , it’s 2010!
The screenplay written by Phil Hay, Matt Manfield, and 1981’s screenwriter, Kevin De La Noy is watered down Greek mythology. It features the gods pitted against the human mortals with the son of Zeus, who is a half human demigod, Perseus (Sam Worthington). He leads the human army on an impossible mission against the god of the underworld, Hades (Ralph Fiennes) and his monstrous pet people-eater, the Kracken. Zeus is played by Liam Nelson.
Although Perseus can use his special godly powers, he prefers to fight as a mere mortal to defeat the powerful Hades, who draws his power from humans’ fear of his fiery realm. Perseus seethes with hate for the gods who killed his adopted parents, a humble fisherman who found Perseus floating in the ocean. In reality, Zeus is his father.
The mortal army has to travel to the loathsome witches lair to find out how to kill the monster Kracken. Meanwhile they must get through the slithery Medusa, who can turn her enemies to stone just for looking at her face. These shaggy haired warriors wearing armor seem like comic book characters, like the ”300″ army of guys wearing Speedos.
Along the mortal army’s treacherous journey to defeat Medusa to get her head to fend off the Kracken, they encounter gigantic scorpions and a strange race of desert nomads who somehow tamed the beasts as transportation. Yeah, it’s all nonsense, which wouldn’t be so bad had the special effects and 3D been spectacular.
Director Louis Leterrier failed on every level to create a big exciting special effects movie. Instead, he used visual cliches and a weak script to drive home the story, which at best, is sophomoric. Come on all that Greek mythological mumbo-jumbo is so trivialized into this mundane film, it’s a parody of itself.
Now that 3D has become the rage, it will be attached to almost every film whether or not it’s actually used, as in this film. There were a few 3D scenes, but just enough to say to justify the label. If you are a 12 year old boy who likes fantasy video games, this picture is for you. Otherwise, go see something else.
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