“You will learn someday that being half human, makes you stronger than a god.”
Remember a couple of years back when Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk & The Transporter) was asked to remake the cheesy 80s Greek Myth based story of Perseus and his trials as he comes to terms with his lineage. Well two years pass, switch directors and we get another hour and forty minutes of Perseus (Sam Worthington) doing the same thing he did in the previous film, trying to deal with the fact that he is the son of Zeus (Liam Neeson) and has to decide whether to be human or god.
Let’s take it back a notch. If we’re to play a game I like to call the “like” game; Wrath of the Titans is like: 300 (a film I thoroughly enjoy) and it’s also like The Immortals (a film that I enjoyed for its visual stimulation), but at the very same moment very unlike both of those films since instead of offering memorable action sequences and stunning visuals it replaces that all with a video game-esque plodding tale which sits there and waits for me to press the X button in order for Perseus to pull the Chimera’s head to the left some more just as it would when I’m playing God of War.
The only problem I have with this notion is that video games (while on occasion have some great stories) are in the most part light on the story because the sell with that commodity is that I’m interacting with it and experiencing this (for the most part) heroic journey, film on the other hand has to be more innovative that moving from point A to B to C and eventually K with as thinly veiled an interest as films like Wrath of the Titans without offering anything truly inspiring.
Some may look at my complaints and ask what more I truly wanted from a sequel to an completely uninspiring remake? Well the truth is when you look at it like that you’re right. This movie definitely delivers a comparable second chapter to the 2010 Titans film. It builds up towards the same spectacle of having a shell of a human being fight against a gargantuan creature, Kronos, which is all kinds of awesome in its own OMG sort of way, but isn’t it worth of me to ask more of a movie like this?
Where I will take the time to applaud Wrath of the Titans is a much improved Zeus and Hades (Ralph Fiennes) plot line. With the first film hinting how these brothers came to despise one another in their own way, the interactions between these phenomenal actors were such a breath of fresh air that it gave me whispers of hope for the film. Add to that the role of Hephaestus (Bill Nighy) having a few truly memorable scenes which in the grand scheme are there just to get our story along its path from point D to E, but thanks to some great acting did its best to lift the film up a notch or two in entertainment. Sadly eventually the film had to come back to Perseus’ grand adventure.