Signis

The Wrath of the Titans

(JPEG)

US, 2012, Sam Worthington, Rosamund Pike, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Bill Nighy, Edgar Ramirez, Directed by Jonathan Liebesman.

Like olden days matinees, this is adventure material without too much worry about making a classic! And they haven’t.

The 2009 Clash of the Titans was not favourably reviewed because it was this same type of matinee movie (and the rather less effective 3D processing was done in post-production). It will be the same here although the 3D is much better - and it is being shown on Imax screens as well which gives it a quite spectacular presentation.

This is quoting a friend/reviewer after the preview. Someone was talking to him about the plot. He was surprised at this development because he thought the plot was simply,’Hey, there’s another monster...’. Actually, there is some basic plot surrounding the fights with the monsters. Perseus, who had defeated the Kracken in the first film, has now settled into life in a fishing village to bring up his son. He has renounced his divine origin and opted for the human part of him - perhaps that is why Sam Worthington’s accent this time is even more pronouncedly Australian, contrasting with the fine elocution of Liam Neeson as Zeus and, especially, the almost Shakespearean delivery of Ralph Fiennes as Hades. Perhaps this is the best moment to mention that Bill Nighy, mugging to more than his heart’s content as Hephaestus, has an accent from Yorkshire or somewhere up there. Edgar Ramirez as the villain, Ares, is from Venezuela and has a Hispanic touch to his accent. Rosamund Pike as Andromeda seems to come from London.

But, then, with its popular audience, who is listening to accents!

This is the twilight of the gods (they are declining in their powers and immortality and people don’t pray any more) - they seem to be an unworthy lot, especially Ares (Mars), Zeus’ son who is jealous of his half brother, Perseus (who does get to ride Pegasus into the air, twice). But this is special effects Gotterdamerung, especially Perseus’ fight with the Titan, Cronos, renewed by energy drained from Zeus and appearing in gigantic flames.

So, plenty (plenty) of fights and action, often impressive sets, a poly-accented cast, with some comedy thanks to Bill Nighy’s antics and Toby Kebbel as Poseidon’s son Agenor who seems to be channelling Russell Brand.

Box office success will rely on word of mouth rather than reviews.

Peter Malone