Legendary Pictures, Thunder Road Pictures, The Zanuck Company and Warner Bros. Pictures.

Written By: Travis Beacham, Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi, adapted from Beverley Cross’ 1981 film screenplay.

Though I am often critical of recycling and rehashing old ideas in Hollywood, I seem to recall being pleasantly excited for the news that “Clash Of The Titans” was receiving a 2010 facelift. I was 7 or 8 years old when the original film became one of my earliest cinematic memories and acknowledging the B-movie special effects and over-the-top action, I loved the thing to death. So, the notion that “Clash” was getting a big budget treatment made my mind race around with how this would look and how that would look – in essence, youthful exuberance took over. After watching the new “Clash of the Titans” in 3-D, I am again reminded that youthful exuberance often originates from a naive and exaggerated imagination, and ultimately, leads to some form of disappointment. Well, a boy can still dream, right?

If you are not familiar with the story told in “Clash Of The Titans”, begrudge me a moment.

Perseus (Worthington), the son of Zeus (Neeson), leads a band of warriors into various battles in an effort to save earth from the vengeful whims and “end it all” desires of Hades (Fiennes), the God of the Underworld and Zeus’ brother. Hades has the ear of Zeus and Zeus is warm to the idea of allowing humans to turn on one another and live in such deplorable conditions on Earth that humankind will naturally beg for salvation. Perseus is a demi-God as a result of Zeus’ tryst with a human mother and Perseus blames his father’s actions for ultimately leading to the death of his mother. Seeing himself as a human and not a God, Perseus attempts to save Argos, the city which Hades targets for unleashing his sinister plot. Perseus leads his men into three specific battles against a gang of gigantic black scorpions, the murderous Madusa who kills by direct eye contact, and finally, the Kraken – a horrific sea monster who when summoned seeks to simply destroy anyone and anything in its way.

The setup is pretty simple enough but the execution in this 2010 version is choppy and without rhythm. For starters, the film begins with narration. Now I must admit to a bias when it comes to the lazy and sellout narration technique. So, it is fair to assume that “Clash” proverbially stepped on my foot right as it walked into the room. From its clumsy beginnings, much of the deficiency in “Clash of the Titans” falls squarely at the hands of the screenwriters. Much of the magic and playfulness the first film had is gone with wooden dialogue, stilted performances, and seems designed to pass the time until they can work out another awesome fight sequence. There are moments of humor here, but much of the film is spent with us listening to boring claptrap between underdeveloped characters, as we all, audience and actors alike, wait for something big to happen.

To Director Louis Leterrier’s credit, the action sequences are impressively staged and two of the three battle sequences are quite intense. The battle with gigantic and deadly black scorpions for example sneaks up on you rather unexpectedly and stabs its claws into you for several minutes. Palpable tension can also be felt in the encounter with the beautiful but deadly Madusa. Set up beforehand with an effective scene where Perseus is trained on the spot by his love interest, Io (Gemma Arterton), Madusa’s snake-like appearance proves to be a formidable opponent for Perseus’ army and the battle does not end without some casualties. These two sequences best anything present in the first film and are proof that there was considerable effort in place to make this “Clash” a standalone and noteworthy accomplishment on if nothing else, a technical level.

And what about that Kraken? Well, make your own mind up. For me, I’ll simply say the Kraken is sadly, much ado about nothing. In hindsight, the Kraken is mentioned so often and built up so much, the filmmakers should have just placed a countdown clock in the right-hand corner letting us when the toothy beast would make its short-lived and ill-fated appearance. Oh well. Amen to marketing.

Kraken aside, for some what I’ve described above would serve as enough of a recommendation to see “Clash of the Titans”. Unfortunately, once you actually think about everything else in the film, the problems surface almost immediately. Zeus and Hades, for example, are given nothing to do here. Buried on Mt. Olympus for virtually all their scenes, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes do little more than speak verbose lines of empty fluff and look stifled and weighted down by their ridiculous facial makeup. I hesitate to categorize their performances as being mailed in; but the screenplay’s focus on visual effects does the most damage to character development. Sam Worthington is acceptable as Perseus, but he merely hits repeat on the Jake Sully character he played in “Avatar.” All the other supporting characters are simply along for the ride, although I rather liked Gemma Arterton’s turn as Perseus’ love interest, Io. Io grounds Perseus and keeps him cognizant of not only saving Argos, but also how to perhaps reconnect with his father. Together, Io and Perseus share some nice moments.

“Clash Of The Titans” is another in a long line of disappointing could-have-been and should-have-been films which bring the promise and potential, only to flame out and send you home unable to deliver as expected. Visually the film is top notch and save for the lackluster and disappointing Kraken appearance, the action sequences are all rather intense. Clearly sure to draw big audiences in its opening weekend or two, “Clash Of The Titans” is 2010′s first custom-made mega-budget mega-plex movie that will entice quite a few but leave many, I imagine, shrugging their shoulders.

**SPECIAL NOTE**

It is rather ironic that “Clash of the Titans” is opening on April Fool’s Day 2010. I mention this because the film is touted as being presented in RealD 3-D technology. when the truth is that the film was shot in 2-D and the director never visualized or intended the film to be rendered in 3-D. In other words, $AVE YOUR MONEY, and do not drop the extra 3, 5, or 7 dollars for a ticket in 3-D. As a matter of fact, I watched sizable portions of the film without my RealD 3-D fancy glasses on with no issue at all.

Should I See It?

If you are fine of the big blockbuster, this is really the first of the season.

Fans of the 1981 original will be curious, and there is a delight in seeing the story retold and brought forward to modern day. Look for the cameo of a certain memorable character from the 1981 original used for some nice comedic effect.

Although I feel that this film may have exposed Sam Worthington as a rather one-dimensional actor, if you loved him in “Avatar” as Jake Sully, you will love him here as well.

I admit I am unsure to what those who love and follow Greek mythology might think of this, but for most this “Clash” will serve as mindless, escapist weekend filler. Many will find no problem with that.

Not in 3-D. As stated above, this was converted at the last moment to gain some extra box office ca$h. Director Louis Leterrier, while not publicly condemning the 3-D conversion, has also made it clear that the film was never intended to be in 3-D. So, be weary of the marketing in play here.

For a lot of folks, this is will be another one of those man vs. beast action movies, which will play like a poor man’s “Lord of the Rings”.

The storyline is laid out for you and executed with minimal surprise. Even with a couple of exciting action sequences, the film is largely predictable and fails to deliver the big moment it promises.

Those who watched “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief” a month or two back, will perhaps experience some deja vu. Be aware that this film is much more intense as a whole than that previous film.